--- title: Fish Can Recognize Faces, Study Shows description: At least one species of tropical fish has the ability to distinguish one human face from another, a new study has found. canonical: https://time.com/4361207/archerfish-can-recognize-faces-study/ author: Emma Ockerman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-08T16:02:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:27:58.797Z article:section: Science og:title: Fish Can Recognize Your Face, Study Shows og:description: And this species can be trained to spit at familiar faces og:url: https://time.com/4361207/archerfish-can-recognize-faces-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07d5ad651755691a/698896ed196cf4143e03bed4/archerfish-human-science.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Banded archerfish og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fish Can Recognize Your Face, Study Shows twitter:description: And this species can be trained to spit at familiar faces twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07d5ad651755691a/698896ed196cf4143e03bed4/archerfish-human-science.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fish Can Recognize Your Face, Study Shows > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Jun 8, 2016 4:02 PM UTC  Banded archerfish. Banded archerfish. DeAgostini—Getty Images by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Jun 8, 2016 4:02 PM UTC The sea just might be watching you. By training fish to spit at photos of human faces,[ a new study has found](http://www.nature.com/articles/srep27523) that [one species of tropical fish](http://time.com/3855406/fish-make-their-own-sunscreen/?iid=sr-link4) has the ability to distinguish one face from another. The study, published Tuesday in _Scientific Reports_, discovered archerfish are able to recognize faces with a fair amount of accuracy. Because fish [lack a neocortex](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580416,00.html?iid=sr-link10)—the area of the brain that allows mammals the ability to recognize subtle differences between faces—it was previously considered unlikely that they possessed that ability. The researchers behind the new study decided to focus on archerfish, which are known to spit jets of water at aerial prey with [sharpshooter-like accuracy](http://www.nature.com/news/how-archer-fish-gun-down-prey-from-a-distance-1.15845). With that in mind, researchers showed fish images of faces on a computer monitor above their aquarium, and used food as a reward to train the fish to spit water at the faces that were familiar to them. The fish were able to spot the right face 81% of the time, and their accuracy improved to 86% when the researchers used a set of black-and-white images with a more standardized appearance. In light of the discovery, researchers said it could be possible that [other fish](http://time.com/99086/fish-evolution-humans-pbs/?iid=sr-link10) lacking a neocortex could be capable of recognizing human faces as well. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4361207/archerfish-can-recognize-faces-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4361207/archerfish-can-recognize-faces-study/"},"headline":"Fish Can Recognize Your Face, Study Shows","datePublished":"2016-06-08T16:02:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:27:58.797Z","description":"Archerfish, which can recognize human faces, are known to spit jets of water at aerial prey","url":"https://time.com/4361207/archerfish-can-recognize-faces-study/","keywords":["animals","Brain","Science topic","Research","Know Right Now"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07d5ad651755691a/698896ed196cf4143e03bed4/archerfish-human-science.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Emma Ockerman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07d5ad651755691a/698896ed196cf4143e03bed4/archerfish-human-science.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Banded archerfish","caption":"Banded archerfish","creditText":"DeAgostini—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4361207/archerfish-can-recognize-faces-study/","name":"Fish Can Recognize Your Face, Study Shows"}}]}] ```