How to find Fireflies in Minecraft

Most Minecraft mobs are fairly easy to spot from far away since they’re around the same size as you. But one mob is so small you might walk right past it without even realizing it. Fireflies are just two pixels in size, which makes them very tough to spot.

This tiny mob is an excellent one to use for building since it can help add a nice subtle glow to any area. They’re not easy to locate, though, since they’re incredibly small and only found in two specific regions, so here’s how to find Fireflies in Minecraft.

Where to find Fireflies in Minecraft

You can find Fireflies floating around firefly bushes. For now, firefly bushes and the Fireflies that float around them only exist in snapshot versions of Minecraft, so you need to load the latest one to find and see them. Fireflies will eventually be added as an official game feature in the first drop of 2025, so when they are, we’ll update with additional information here.

Where to find Firefly Bushes in Minecraft

Firefly Bushes only spawn in the swamp and mangrove swamp biomes. They’re tough to see during the day, so for your best chance of finding them, it’s best to explore these areas at night since they emit a soft glow that’s easy to spot when it’s dark.

The only way to find these areas naturally is to wander around until you come across them. If you’re having trouble finding these biomes on your own, you can use the locate command to find the closest one. To do so, you need to open the chat box and type one of the following commands into it.

• /locate biome minecraft:swamp
• /locate biome minecraft:mangrove_swamp

After entering either one of these cheats, you’ll be given the exact coordinates of the closest instance of the biome. You can then click on them to instantly teleport to the location or use coordinates to travel there on your own.

How to get Fireflies in Minecraft

You can get Fireflies by breaking a firefly bush with your hand or any tool of your choosing. This special bush drops instantly when broken, so it’s a super easy item to collect once you manage to track it down. Many blocks need the special Silk Touch enchantment to be obtained, but luckily this isn’t one of them, so break the firefly bushes you find however you like without worrying about losing them.

Can you separate Fireflies from bushes in Minecraft?

Fireflies cannot be separated from the firefly bush item in Minecraft. They exist purely as a special effect tied to this object, so you can only find and see them flying around this special item.

Although you cannot separate Fireflies from this object, you can get creative with how you place them to retain the Fireflies without having the firefly bush visible. Try placing this item behind blocks or with blocks surrounding it on all sides. The Fireflies remain visible around it no matter how you choose to decorate near it, so it’s fairly easy to hide the bush if it doesn’t fit the area you want to place it in.

What do Fireflies do in Minecraft?

Fireflies are purely an aesthetic mob with no actual function. You also cannot interact with them in any way even though you can interact with every other mob in Minecraft in multiple ways. Since they’re tied to a bush, Fireflies function more as a block than a mob.

They do provide the slightest bit of light, but it’s not much and not enough to help you see clearly in dark situations. Most other mobs like Cows, Pigs, and Wolves have multiple functions or provide you with useful items, but Fireflies are unique and exist simply as small floating and twinkling orbs.