The Ingenious Archerfish

What animal shoots a jet of water from its mouth, knocks insects off branches ten feet above the surface, amplifies its muscle power six times over using physics, and can recognize your face?

Meet the archerfish - one of the most ingenious animals on Earth!

In The Ingenious Archerfish, young readers will dive into the world of this incredible tropical fish. From mangrove swamps to science laboratories, from water jets that defy physics to a brain that recognizes human faces, the archerfish's story is one of cleverness, precision, and discovery.

Inside this book, readers will learn:
• How the archerfish shoots a jet of water that bunches up in mid-air and hits its target with six times more force than its muscles alone could produce, using a physics trick no other animal has mastered
• Why the archerfish must correct for refraction every time it hunts, because light bends at the water surface and makes insects appear in a different position than they really are
• How archerfish can recognize forty-four different human faces with up to eighty-nine percent accuracy, even without the brain structures that mammals use for facial recognition
• The story of young archerfish learning to shoot by watching adults, one of the first documented cases of social learning in fish
• Why mangrove forests, the archerfish's primary habitat, are among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth, and what we can do to protect them

Packed with fun facts, a glossary, quiz questions, and hands-on activities, this chapter book makes learning about archerfish an adventure.

Written at a second-grade reading level. Perfect for young readers ages 7-9.

Book 36 in the Chapter Books for Young Explorers series.