Silverfish

Silverfish

Health points	8HP
Behavior	Hostile
Attack strength	Easy and Normal: 1HP Hard: 1.5HP × 0.75
Hitbox size	Height: 0.3 Blocks Width: 0.4 Blocks
Speed	0.25
Spawn	After mining infested blocks Monster Spawner in strongholds Trial Spawners or Ominous Trial Spawners in trial chambers When an entity with the Infested effect takes damage.

{
    "title": "Silverfish",
    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "8<span class=\"hidden-alt-text\">HP</span><span class=\"nowrap mc-hearts\"><span class=\"iconbar pixel-image nowrap\" style=\"--icon-offset:-1px;\" title=\"4  hearts\">(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=&#9829)(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=&#9829)(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=&#9829)(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=&#9829)</span></span>",
            "label": "(link to Health article, displayed as Health points)"
        },
        {
            "field": "Hostile",
            "label": "Behavior"
        },
        {
            "field": "Easy and Normal: 1<span class=\"hidden-alt-text\">HP</span><span class=\"nowrap mc-hearts\"><span class=\"iconbar pixel-image nowrap\" style=\"--icon-offset:-1px;\" title=\"0.5  hearts\">(link to File:Half Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=&#9829)</span></span><br>Hard: 1.5<span class=\"hidden-alt-text\">HP</span><span class=\"nowrap mc-hearts\"><span class=\"iconbar pixel-image nowrap\" style=\"--icon-offset:-1px;\" title=\"1  heart\">(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=&#9829)</span> × 0.75</span>",
            "label": "Attack<br/>strength"
        },
        {
            "field": "Height: 0.3 Blocks<br>Width: 0.4 Blocks",
            "label": "(link to Hitbox article, displayed as Hitbox size)"
        },
        {
            "field": "0.25",
            "label": "(link to Attribute#movementSpeed article, displayed as Speed)"
        },
        {
            "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
            "label": "(link to Mob spawning article, displayed as Spawn)"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [
        "Silverfish Spawn Egg"
    ],
    "images": [
        "Silverfish.gif"
    ]
}

Silverfish are small hostile mobs that infest stone and deepslate blocks in mountains, strongholds, igloo basements and woodland mansions. They crawl at their targets to bite them, and attacking them incites other nearby silverfish to emerge from their blocks and attack the aggressor.

Spawning

Silverfish spawn from broken infested blocks, which generate in strongholds, underground in mountains and windswept hills biomes, in igloo basements and in woodland mansion false portal rooms. Silverfish do not appear if the block is broken with the Silk Touch enchantment.

Monster spawners

Silverfish monster spawners naturally generate in end portal rooms in strongholds. Silverfish can spawn from spawners only at light level 11 or lower, or on stone types they can enter (stone, cobblestone, stone bricks, etc.) at any light level, and cannot spawn within a 5 block distance of any player.

Trial spawners

Silverfish have a chance to be selected as the "small melee" mob for trial spawners in trial chambers.

Infested

Silverfish have a chance to spawn when an entity with the Infested status effect takes damage.

Drops

On death

Silverfish have no drops other than 5XP experience points when killed by a player or tamed wolf.

Behavior

A silverfish being freed from an infested block, which calls for help from other silverfish; causing them to emerge from more infested blocks.

Silverfish attack players, iron golems, and snow golems, and they call other silverfish in the area upon being hit. Silverfish pathfind toward the player and can see the player through walls.

When they suffer Poison damage or damage inflicted by the player and survive, they cause other silverfish within a 21×11×21 area to break out of their infested blocks. The player can prevent other silverfish from appearing by killing them in one hit. If the game rule doTileDrops is set to false, the infested blocks are broken, but no silverfish spawn from them.

Silverfish, being arthropods, take extra damage from the Bane of Arthropods enchantment, and receive Slowness IV upon being hit.

When idle, silverfish enter a nearby deepslate, stone, cobblestone, stone bricks, mossy stone bricks, cracked stone bricks or chiseled stone bricks block, transforming it into the respective infested block if the game rule mobGriefing is set to true, as per default. They cannot infest mossy cobblestone, despite being capable of infesting both mossy blocks and cobblestone, and they also cannot infest slab and stairs of these blocks. They are also unable to infest andesite, diorite, granite or smooth stone. Silverfish are also immune to the infested status effect.

Sounds

Java Edition:
Silverfish use the Hostile Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Silverfish hisses	Hostile Creatures	Randomly	entity.silverfish.ambient	subtitles.entity.silverfish.ambient​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16 { "pitch": "0.8-1.2", "subtitle": "​Silverfish hisses", "source": "Hostile Creatures", "id": "entity.silverfish.ambient", "distance": "16", "desc": "Randomly", "sounds": [ "Silverfish idle1.ogg", "Silverfish idle2.ogg", "Silverfish idle3.ogg", "Silverfish idle4.ogg" ], "volume": "1.0", "java": "1", "translationkey": "subtitles.entity.silverfish.ambient" }
	​Silverfish dies	Hostile Creatures	When a silverfish dies	entity.silverfish.death	subtitles.entity.silverfish.death​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16 { "pitch": "0.8-1.2", "subtitle": "​Silverfish dies", "source": "Hostile Creatures", "id": "entity.silverfish.death", "distance": "16", "desc": "When a silverfish dies", "sounds": [ "Silverfish death.ogg" ], "volume": "1.0", "java": "1", "translationkey": "subtitles.entity.silverfish.death" }
	​Silverfish hurts	Hostile Creatures	When a silverfish is damaged	entity.silverfish.hurt	subtitles.entity.silverfish.hurt​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16 { "pitch": "0.8-1.2", "subtitle": "​Silverfish hurts", "source": "Hostile Creatures", "id": "entity.silverfish.hurt", "distance": "16", "desc": "When a silverfish is damaged", "sounds": [ "Silverfish hurt1.ogg", "Silverfish hurt2.ogg", "Silverfish hurt3.ogg" ], "volume": "1.0", "java": "1", "translationkey": "subtitles.entity.silverfish.hurt" }
	​Footsteps	Hostile Creatures	Unused sound event	entity.silverfish.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16 { "pitch": "1.0", "subtitle": "​Footsteps", "source": "Hostile Creatures", "id": "entity.silverfish.step", "distance": "16", "desc": "''Unused sound event'' '\"`UNIQ--ref-0000001E-QINU`\"'", "sounds": [ "Silverfish step1.ogg", "Silverfish step2.ogg", "Silverfish step3.ogg", "Silverfish step4.ogg" ], "volume": "0.15", "java": "1", "translationkey": "subtitles.block.generic.footsteps" }

Bedrock Edition:

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Hostile Creatures	Randomly	mob.silverfish.say	1.0	0.8-1.2 { "sounds": [ "Silverfish idle1.ogg", "Silverfish idle2.ogg", "Silverfish idle3.ogg", "Silverfish idle4.ogg" ], "source": "Hostile Creatures", "volume": "1.0", "id": "mob.silverfish.say", "pitch": "0.8-1.2", "bedrock": "1", "desc": "Randomly" }
	Hostile Creatures	When a silverfish dies	mob.silverfish.kill	1.0	0.8-1.2 { "sounds": [ "Silverfish death.ogg" ], "source": "Hostile Creatures", "volume": "1.0", "id": "mob.silverfish.kill", "pitch": "0.8-1.2", "bedrock": "1", "desc": "When a silverfish dies" }
	Hostile Creatures	When a silverfish is damaged	mob.silverfish.hit	1.0	0.8-1.2 { "sounds": [ "Silverfish hurt1.ogg", "Silverfish hurt2.ogg", "Silverfish hurt3.ogg" ], "source": "Hostile Creatures", "volume": "1.0", "id": "mob.silverfish.hit", "pitch": "0.8-1.2", "bedrock": "1", "desc": "When a silverfish is damaged" }
	Hostile Creatures	While a silverfish is walking	mob.silverfish.step	0.35	1.0 { "sounds": [ "Silverfish step1.ogg", "Silverfish step2.ogg", "Silverfish step3.ogg", "Silverfish step4.ogg" ], "source": "Hostile Creatures", "volume": "0.35", "id": "mob.silverfish.step", "pitch": "1.0", "bedrock": "1", "desc": "While a silverfish is walking" }

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags	[hide]Translation key
Silverfish	silverfish	arthropod powder_snow_walkable_mobs sensitive_to_bane_of_arthropods	entity.minecraft.silverfish

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	[hide]Translation key
Silverfish	silverfish	39	entity.silverfish.name

Entity data

Silverfish have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Java Edition:

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Entity data
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template[show]
  • Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template[show]

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

[hide]
Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		It Spreads	Kill a mob next to a catalyst	—	10	Bronze
		Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster.	Kill a hostile mob or one of the following neutral mobs: an enderman, a piglin, a zombified piglin, a spider, or a cave spider.	15	Bronze
		Overkill	Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit.	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall.	30	Bronze
		Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	—	20	Silver

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	A Throwaway Joke	Throw a Trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.	Hit a mob with a thrown trident.
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand also counts for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Kill one of these 73 mobs near a sculk catalyst:[show] Mobs that drop no experience as well as the ender dragon are ignored for this advancement.
	Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Kill one of these 37 mobs:[hide] Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Kill each of these 37 mobs:[hide] Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	–
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.

History

[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.7							The texture (silverfish.png) has been added. However, the mob itself is not yet present.
1.8			Pre-release				Added silverfish.
[hide]Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2				The health of silverfish has been reduced from 20HP × 10 to 8HP.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3				Silverfish monster spawners are now found in end portal rooms in strongholds.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4				Silverfish are now considered arthropods.
			RC1				Added sounds for silverfish. Before the update, silverfish used spider sounds.
1.3.1			12w26a				Silverfish now summon silverfish from nearby monster eggs whenever they take Poison damage.
1.4.2			12w38a				Monster eggs containing silverfish can now generate underground in extreme hills biomes.
1.7.2			13w36a				Silverfish can now possess cracked stone bricks, mossy stone bricks, and chiseled stone bricks. However, the first two do not actually generate within strongholds.
			?				Silverfish can now rarely spawn inside cobblestone or stone brick blocks.
1.8			14w06a				Silverfish now pathfind, alert other silverfish of the player when hit, and stop occasionally before moving again (similar to most other mobs).
1.9			15w43a				Silverfish can now be spawned from broken monster eggs in the basements of igloos.
			15w51b				Silverfish no longer enter into blocks if the game rule mobGriefing is false.
1.11			16w32a				The entity ID has been changed from Silverfish to silverfish.
			16w36a				Silverfish can now spawn from broken infested cobblestone in the fake portal room of woodland mansions.
1.15			19w34a				Silverfish now take damage on magma blocks.
1.20.3 Experiment Update 1.21			23w45a				Silverfish now spawn in trial chambers behind the "Update 1.21" experimental data pack.
1.20.5 Experiment Update 1.21			24w13a				Silverfish can now spawn when an entity with the infested status effect takes damage.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0			build 1				Added silverfish.
v0.12.1			build 12				Silverfish no longer make sounds while moving.
[hide]Pocket Edition
1.0.0			alpha 0.17.0.1				Silverfish can now be spawned from broken monster eggs in the basements of igloos.
1.1.0			alpha 1.1.0.0				Silverfish can now spawn from broken infested cobblestone in the fake portal room of woodland mansions.
?			?				Silverfish once again make sounds while moving.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.20.60 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.20.60.20				Silverfish now spawn in trial chambers behind the "Update 1.21" experimental toggle.
1.21.0 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.21.0.20				Silverfish can now spawn when an entity with the infested status effect takes damage.
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU5	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1		Added silverfish.
[hide]New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added silverfish.

Issues

Issues relating to "Silverfish" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• In real life, silverfish are harmless, small, and wingless insects that are often found in dark areas in buildings and the wooden pilings of seaside piers and trees. They are infamous for damaging paper-based products.
• Silverfish appeared in the April Fools 2.0 update as the redstone bug.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 

  Two silverfish.

• 

  A swarm of silverfish.

• 

  Silverfish spawner room in a stronghold.

• 

  The same room, with a lit portal.

• 

  A silverfish riding a minecart.

• 

  Many silverfish in a village (click for animation).

• 

  A giant stone silverfish as seen in the Java Edition 13w26a banner.

• 

  Lots of silverfish.

• 

  Silverfish as they appear in the Timeless Trails DLC, seemingly made out of sandstone.

Textures

• 

  Silverfish texture file.

In other media

• 

  Artwork of a silverfish.

• 

  A silverfish as it appears in Minecraft Dungeons.

• 

  A silverfish as it appears in the City texture pack.

• 

  A silverfish as it appears in the Greek texture pack.

• 

  Lego Minecraft Silverfish.

See also

• Endermite
• Infested block

External links

• Mob Menagerie: Silverfish – Minecraft.net on May 4, 2023