An archerfish shapes its spit so the water bunches into a harder-hitting blob.

Archerfish are famous for shooting insects with water, but the trick is better than simple aim. Studies of the jet show that the fish actively changes how its mouth opens and closes so the back of the water stream travels faster than the front. That timing makes the stream bunch together near the target, delivering a concentrated impact instead of a weak spray. The fish is not doing math in a human way. It is still controlling a free jet of water with enough precision that researchers compared the timing problem to the physics of throwing.

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