WATCH: New Zealand Fish Leaps Out Of Water To Eat Food Off Dry Land

It's not every day you see a fish out of water — literally! No, we don't mean in the metaphoric sense, but a fish that physically propels itself out of the water.

But that's just what two students and a professor from Northcote College in Auckland, New Zealand recently saw near a stream at Le Roys Bush, the public reserve where they were observing a population of banded kokopu population.

The fish, a species of whitebait native to New Zealand waters, was noticed jumping out of the water and onto the bank. Curious to see if the fish was in hunting mode, the students placed larvae on the bank and could not believe what happened next. The fish jumped out of the water and onto the bank to snatch the larvae before immediately throwing itself back into the stream!

According to the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, banded kokopu usually feed off of moths and flies that fall to the water's surface, but obviously their experiment proves that the fish also don't leave their meals to chance.

"It's quite unique for fish to jump out of the water," the attending professor Kit Hustler, told The North Times. "I don't know how many do it, but I'd say it's less than 20 globally."

See this rare occurrence for yourself!