Silverfish mob in Minecraft
The Silverfish is a tiny pest that hides inside stone. Break the wrong block in a mountain or a stronghold and one comes out, and hitting it wakes up the others nearby. Alone it is weak; the danger is the swarm.
- Health
- 84 hearts
- Behavior
- Hostile
- Found in
- Trial Chambers+1 more
Silverfish stats
- Health
- 8 4 hearts
- Behavior
- Hostile
- Spawns in
- —
- Size
- 0.4 × 0.3 blocks
- XP when killed
- 5
- Speed
- 0.25
- Detection range
- 16 blocks
// Experience drops only when a player kills it. Speeds are the game’s internal values, not blocks per second.
How much damage Silverfish deals
Damage to a player without armor, by world difficulty. 1 ♥ = 2 damage points.
// Armor, Protection and Resistance reduce these values. Base values read from the game code (26.3).
Where to find Silverfish
Doesn’t spawn naturally in a biome: it comes from a structure, a spawner, a block or an event.
Structures
Silverfish drops
Nothing.
SilverfishTraits
Properties set in the game files.
Advancements with Silverfish
Advancements whose criteria involve this mob, from the game files.
Command
/summon minecraft:silverfish ~ ~ ~Infested blocks: where Silverfish hide
Silverfish live inside infested blocks, which look exactly like normal ones. Infested Stone and Infested Deepslate generate in small clusters in mountain biomes such as the Windswept Hills or the Meadow, below sea level. A stronghold is full of infested stone bricks, and its portal room has a Silverfish spawner next to the End Portal Frames.
There is one tell: an infested block breaks noticeably faster than the real one. If a stone block gives way too quickly, expect a Silverfish.
Why one becomes a swarm
When you hurt a Silverfish without killing it, it calls the Silverfish hiding in the blocks around it, and they all come out. Silverfish also burrow back into stone blocks when they are idle, turning them into new infested blocks. A stronghold corridor can go from quiet to crawling in seconds.
How to fight Silverfish
- Kill in one hit. A weapon strong enough to kill each one at once stops them from waking the others.
- Use Bane of Arthropods. Silverfish are arthropods and take extra damage from it.
- Get off the stone. Fight from a spot that is not surrounded by infested blocks, or drop gravel on a group in a corridor.
- Mine with Silk Touch. An infested block mined this way drops plain stone, and no Silverfish comes out.
The Infested effect
A Potion of Infestation, brewed from stone, gives the Infested effect: a mob under it sometimes releases Silverfish when it takes damage. Silverfish themselves are immune to it. They drop nothing, so there is no reason to farm them.
✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 1 November 2026
Silverfish — FAQ
How do you know if a block is infested?
It looks identical, but it breaks much faster than the normal block. Silk Touch mining drops the plain block and releases no Silverfish.
Why do more Silverfish keep coming?
A Silverfish that is hurt but not killed calls the others hiding in nearby blocks. Kill each one in a single hit.
Where is the Silverfish spawner?
In the portal room of a stronghold, next to the End Portal.
Where does the Silverfish spawn?
It doesn’t spawn naturally in biomes. You find it in Stronghold and Trial Chambers.
What does a Silverfish drop?
Nothing.
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