How to Catch a Needlefish

In 2015, biologists off the coast of Australia's Heron Island observed needlefish hunting prey and doing something very abnormal as far as fish behavior goes. About half of the attacks on the prey fish were done by leaping out of the water, traveling almost six feet and then plunging back in to catch the prey from above. Needlefish are a family of very long, pointy-faced fish ranging in size from one inch to three feet that live pretty much all over the world in shallow and surface waters. Their relative longness is so pronounced that they're commonly called long toms.

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