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This article is about the gray hostile mob. For the joke feature, see Redstone Bug.

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 will incite 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.[1]

Silverfish 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[verify]. This is the only renewable source of silverfish and infested blocks.

1-3 silverfish have a 5% chance of spawning from any entity affected by the new potion effect Infested that are hurt.

Drops[]

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

Behavior[]

Silverfish infest anim

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, snow golems and 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 shot.[2] 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,[3] despite being capable of infesting both mossy blocks and cobblestone, and they also cannot infest slab and stairs of these blocks.[4] They are also unable to infest andesite, diorite, granite or smooth stone.[5]

Sounds[]

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

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Silverfish hissesHostile CreaturesRandomlyentity.silverfish.ambientsubtitles.entity.silverfish.ambient1.00.8-1.216
Silverfish diesHostile CreaturesWhen a silverfish diesentity.silverfish.deathsubtitles.entity.silverfish.death1.00.8-1.216
Silverfish hurtsHostile CreaturesWhen a silverfish is damagedentity.silverfish.hurtsubtitles.entity.silverfish.hurt1.00.8-1.216
FootstepsHostile CreaturesUnused sound event [sound 1]entity.silverfish.stepsubtitles.block.generic.footsteps0.151.016
  1. MC-117609 — Silverfish and Endermites don't make footstep sounds or subtitles

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
Hostile CreaturesRandomlymob.silverfish.say1.00.8-1.2
Hostile CreaturesWhen a silverfish diesmob.silverfish.kill1.00.8-1.2
Hostile CreaturesWhen a silverfish is damagedmob.silverfish.hit1.00.8-1.2
Hostile CreaturesWhile a silverfish is walkingmob.silverfish.step0.351.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierEntity tags (JE)Translation key
Silverfishsilverfishpowder_snow_walkable_mobsentity.minecraft.silverfish

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID Translation key
Silverfishsilverfish39entity.silverfish.name

Entity data[]

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

Java Edition:

Main article: Entity format
  • Entity data
    • Tags common to all entities
    • Tags common to all mobs

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements[]

Icon Achievement In-game description Actual requirements (if different) Gamerscore earned Trophy type (PS4)
PS4 Other
Monster HunterAttack 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.15GBronze

Advancements[]

Icon Advancement In-game description Parent Actual requirements (if different) Resource location
Advancement-plain-rawAdventure
Adventure, exploration and combat Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity.adventure/root
Advancement-plain-rawMonster Hunter
Kill any hostile monster AdventureKill one of these 34 mobs: Only the riders of the chicken jockeys and skeleton horsemen are counted in this advancement. Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.adventure/kill_a_mob
Advancement-fancy-rawIt Spreads
Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst Monster HunterKill one of these 70 mobs near a sculk catalyst: Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.adventure/kill_mob_near_sculk_catalyst
Advancement-fancy-rawMonsters Hunted
Kill one of every hostile monster Monster HunterKill each of these 36 mobs: Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement. Only the riders of the chicken jockeys and skeleton horsemen are counted in this advancement.adventure/kill_all_mobs

Video[]

History[]

Java Edition Beta
1.7The texture (silverfish.png) has been added. However, the mob itself is not yet present.
1.8Pre-releaseSilverfish JE1 BE1 Added silverfish.
Java Edition
1.0.0Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2The health of silverfish has been reduced from 20♥ × 10 to 8♥♥♥♥.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3Silverfish monster spawners are now found in end portal rooms in strongholds.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4Silverfish are now considered arthropods.
RC1Added sounds for silverfish. Before the update, silverfish used spider sounds.
1.3.112w26aSilverfish now summon silverfish from nearby monster eggs whenever they take Poison damage.
1.4.212w38aMonster eggs containing silverfish can now generate underground in extreme hills biomes.
1.7.213w36aSilverfish can now possess cracked stone bricks, mossy stone bricks, and chiseled stone bricks. However, the first two do not actually generate within strongholds.[6]
?Silverfish can now rarely spawn inside cobblestone or stone brick blocks.[verify]
1.814w06aSilverfish now pathfind, alert other silverfish of the player when hit, and stop occasionally before moving again (similar to most other mobs).
1.915w43aSilverfish can now be spawned from broken monster eggs in the basements of igloos.
15w51bSilverfish no longer enter into blocks if the game rule mobGriefing is false.
1.1116w32aThe entity ID has been changed from Silverfish to silverfish.
16w36aSilverfish can now spawn from broken infested cobblestone in the fake portal room of woodland mansions.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0build 1Silverfish JE1 BE1 Added silverfish.
v0.12.1build 12Silverfish no longer make sounds while moving.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0alpha 0.17.0.1Silverfish can now be spawned from broken monster eggs in the basements of igloos.
1.1.0alpha 1.1.0.0Silverfish can now spawn from broken infested cobblestone in the fake portal room of woodland mansions.
??Silverfish once again make sounds while moving.
Legacy Console Edition
TU5CU1 1.0 Patch 1Silverfish JE1 BE1 Added silverfish.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0Silverfish JE1 BE1 Added silverfish.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Silverfish" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues 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[]

In other media[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. MC-48184 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  2. MC-2432 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  3. MC-167357
  4. MC-167372
  5. MC-189974
  6. MC-140209

External Links[]

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