Silverfish

This article is about the gray hostile mob. For the joke feature, see Redstone Bug. For the mob in Minecraft Dungeons, see MCD:Silverfish.

Silverfish

Health points	8HP
Behavior	Hostile
Mob type	Monster Arthropod
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. Stronghold: from infested blocks and monster spawners. Igloo: from infested blocks. Woodland Mansion: from infested blocks. Trial Chambers: from trial spawners. 10% When an entity with the Infested effect takes damage.

Silverfish are small hostile arthropods found infesting stone and deepslate blocks in mountain caves and certain structures, such as strongholds, or spawned using potions of Infestation. They attack by biting, and attacking one can cause nearby silverfish to break out of their blocks to 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]

Monster spawners

Silverfish monster spawners naturally generate in End portal rooms in strongholds. Silverfish can spawn from spawners at light level 11 or lower. In Java Edition, they can also spawn 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

Each trial chambers structure has a 25% chance to select silverfish as the "small melee" mob for its trial spawners.

During ominous trials, each ominous trial spawner has a ¹⁄₇ chance to be able to dispense lingering potions of Infestation, which spawns silverfish when an affected entity takes damage. Any type of trial spawner can dispense Infested potions, regardless of the mob type it spawns.

Infested

Silverfish have a 10% chance to spawn in groups of 1-2 when an entity with the Infested effect takes damage.

Drops

On death

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

Behavior

Silverfish attack players and snow golems‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} 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 hit.^[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 or stairs of these blocks.^[4] They are also unable to infest andesite, diorite, granite, and smooth stone.^[5]

Silverfish are immune to the Infested status effect.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

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

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Family	Translation key
Silverfish	silverfish	39	arthropod lightweight mob monster silverfish	entity.silverfish.name

Entity data

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

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster.	Kill one of these 41 monsters: Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Husk Cave Spider Creaking (by destroying its creaking heart) Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Parched Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Nautilus Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this achievement.	15	Bronze
		It Spreads	Kill a mob next to a catalyst	Kill any mob that drops experience near a sculk catalyst, with the sole exception of the ender dragon. Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this achievement.	10	Bronze

Achievements that apply to all mobs:

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		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	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have 50 hearts of health overall.	20	Silver
		Mob Kabob	Hit five mobs in the same Charge attack using the Spear	Armor stands and players also count for this achievement as they are technically mobs.	10	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Kill one of these 41​[until: Fourth Drop 2026]/42​[upcoming] monsters: Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Husk Cave Spider Creaking (by destroying its creaking heart) Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Frostbite​[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026] Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Parched Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Nautilus Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Kill any mob that drops experience near a sculk catalyst, with the sole exception of the ender dragon. Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.
	Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Kill each of these 41​[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026]/42​[upcoming] monsters: Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Husk Cave Spider Creaking (by destroying its creaking heart) Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Frostbite​[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026] Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Parched Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Nautilus Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.

Advancements that apply to all mobs:

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
	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.
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.
	Mob Kabob	Hit five mobs in the same Charge attack using the Spear	Armor Stand and Mannequin also count for this advancement.
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand and Mannequin also count 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.
	Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have 50 hearts of health overall.

Videos

History

Java Edition

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.
							Silverfish spawn from broken stone brick monster eggs in strongholds.
							Silverfish can infest stone bricks and its variants, cobblestone and stone, making them their monster egg variants, except the mossy and cracked stone bricks. It used spider sounds.
							Idle sounds: Death sound: Hurt sounds:
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.
1.2.1			1.2				Silverfish can now infest the new chiseled stone bricks into infested stone bricks.
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 and extreme hills edge biomes.
1.7.2			?				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			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.
1.17			21w10a				Silverfish can now infest deepslate.
1.20.3 Experiment Update 1.21			23w45a				Silverfish now spawn in trial chambers.
1.20.5 Experiment Update 1.21			24w13a				Silverfish can now spawn when an entity with the infested status effect takes damage.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0			build 1				Added silverfish.
v0.12.1			build 12				Silverfish no longer make sounds while moving.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0			alpha 0.17.0.1				Silverfish can now be spawned from broken monster eggs in the basements of igloos.
			alpha 0.17.0.2				Silverfish once again make sounds while moving.
1.1.0			alpha 1.1.0.0				Silverfish can now spawn from broken infested cobblestone in the fake portal room of woodland mansions.
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.

Legacy Console Edition

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.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added silverfish.

Data history

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, 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 are the only real-life animals to be fully hostile mobs.

Publicity

• Silverfish appeared in the April Fools 2.0 update as the redstone bug.
• Due to the suffix "-fish", The Monster Food Add-On featured an item called silver seafood made from silverfish shells, and Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue initially showed them underwater.^[6]

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

Mojang screenshots

• 
  A silverfish crawling around
• 
  A giant stone silverfish as seen in the Java Edition 13w26a banner
• 
  Too many silverfish

Textures

• 
  Silverfish texture file

In other media

• 
  A silverfish as it appears in Minecraft Mash-Up
• 
  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 mash-up pack
• 
  Lego Minecraft silverfish

See also

• Endermite
• Infested block
• Infested

References

External links

• "Mob Menagerie: Silverfish" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, May 4, 2023.