For the joke feature, see Redstone Bug

Silverfish are small, bug-like hostile mobs found in strongholds, igloo basements, and mountains.

Drops [ edit ]

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

Spawning [ edit ]

Infested blocks [ edit ]

Silverfish spawn from broken infested blocks, which generate in strongholds, igloos with basements, mansion fake portal rooms and mountains biomes. Silverfish do not appear if the block is broken with Silk Touch.

Spawners [ edit ]

When spawning from spawners, they can spawn only in light level 11 or lower. They also cannot spawn within a 5 block distance of any player. Silverfish spawners naturally generate in end portal rooms in strongholds.

Behavior [ edit ]

Silverfish are the fifth smallest mobs in Minecraft, after the baby turtle, the baby bee, normal pufferfish and the endermite; their height is less than that of a slab.

Silverfish can "call" other silverfish in the area upon being hit. These silverfish can see through walls and pathfind until they reach the player.

When idle, silverfish enter a nearby stone, cobblestone, stone bricks, mossy stone bricks, cracked stone bricks, or chiseled stone bricks block, transforming it into the respective infested block if /gamerule mobGriefing is set to true . They cannot infest mossy cobblestone, despite being capable of infesting both mossy blocks and cobblestone, and they also cannot infest slab and stairs variants of these blocks. They also (as of 1.15.2) are unable to infest Andesite, Diorite, Granite, or Smooth stone.

When they suffer poison damage or damage inflicted by the player, and survive, they may cause other silverfish within a 21×11×21 area to break out of their monster eggs. The player can, therefore, prevent other silverfish from appearing by killing them in one shot.

Silverfish, being arthropods, take more damage from tools with the Bane of Arthropods enchantment.

Sounds [ edit ]

Sound Subtitle Source Description Namespaced ID Translation key Volume Pitch Attenuation

distance Sound parameters Volume Pitch Attenuation

distance Stream Preload https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_idle1.ogg https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_idle2.ogg https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_idle3.ogg https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_idle4.ogg Silverfish hisses ? ? entity.silverfish.ambient subtitles.entity.silverfish.ambient ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ? https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_death.ogg Silverfish dies ? ? entity.silverfish.death subtitles.entity.silverfish.death ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ? https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_hurt1.ogg https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_hurt2.ogg https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_hurt3.ogg Silverfish hurts ? ? entity.silverfish.hurt subtitles.entity.silverfish.hurt ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ? https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_step1.ogg https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_step2.ogg https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_step3.ogg https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Silverfish_step4.ogg Footsteps ? ? entity.silverfish.step subtitles.block.generic.footsteps ? ? 16 ? ? ? ? ?

Data values [ edit ]

ID [ edit ]

Java Edition:

Name Namespaced ID Translation key Silverfish silverfish entity.minecraft.silverfish

Bedrock Edition:

Name Namespaced ID Numeric ID Translation key Silverfish silverfish 39 entity.silverfish.name

Entity data [ edit ]

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

Entity data Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template

Entity data

Advancements [ edit ]

Icon Advancement In-game description Parent Actual requirements (if different) Namespaced ID Adventure

Adventure, exploration, and combat — Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity. adventure/root Monster Hunter

Kill any hostile monster Adventure Kill one of these 34 mobs . Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement. adventure/kill_a_mob Monsters Hunted

Kill one of every hostile monster Monster Hunter Kill each of these 34 mobs . Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement. adventure/kill_all_mobs

Video [ edit ]

History [ edit ]

Issues [ edit ]

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

Trivia [ edit ]

In real life, silverfish are small, relatively harmless, wingless arthropods 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. During cold temperatures, they are known to enter a sort of "hibernation" by expelling most of the water in their body. During this state, they greatly resemble small stones or gravel, likely inspiring their Minecraft counterparts.

counterparts. Unlike most Minecraft mobs, they do not have a plush toy.

mobs, they do not have a plush toy. They appeared in the April Fools 2.0 update as the Redstone Bug.

In Bedrock Edition, letting a silverfish enter regular stone bricks turns them into infested stone instead of infested stone bricks.

Gallery [ edit ]

A 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 13w26a banner.

Render of silverfish.

See also [ edit ]