Key points Using high‐speed videos time‐locked with whole‐animal electrical recordings, simultaneous measurement of behavioural kinematics and field potential parameters of C‐start startle responses allowed for discrimination between short‐latency and long‐latency C‐starts (SLCs vs. LLCs) in larval zebrafish. Apart from their latencies, SLC kinematics and SLC field potential parameters were intensity independent. Increasing stimulus intensity increased the probability of evoking an SLC and decreased mean SLC latencies while increasing their precision; subtraction of field potential latencies from SLC latencies revealed a fixed time delay between the two measurements that was intensity independent. The latency and the precision in the latency of the SLC field potentials were linearly correlated to the latencies and precision of the first evoked action potentials (spikes) in hair‐cell afferent neurons of the lateral line. Together, these findings indicate that first spike latency (FSL) is a fast encoding mechanism that can serve to precisely initiate startle responses when speed is critical for survival. Abstract Vertebrates rely on fast sensory encoding for rapid and precise initiation of startle responses. In afferent sensory neurons, trains of action potentials (spikes) encode stimulus intensity within the onset time of the first evoked spike (first spike latency; FSL) and the number of evoked spikes. For speed of initiation of startle responses, FSL would be the more advantageous mechanism to encode the intensity of a threat. However, the intensity dependence of FSL and spike number and whether either determines the precision of startle response initiation is not known. Here, we examined short‐latency startle responses (SLCs) in larval zebrafish and tested the hypothesis that first spike latencies and their precision (jitter) determine the onset time and precision of SLCs. We evoked startle responses via activation of Channelrhodopsin (ChR2) expressed in ear and lateral line hair cells and acquired high‐speed videos of head‐fixed larvae while simultaneously recording underlying field potentials. This method allowed for discrimination between primary SLCs and less frequent, long‐latency startle responses (LLCs). Quantification of SLC kinematics and field potential parameters revealed that, apart from their latencies, they were intensity independent. We found that increasing stimulus intensity decreased SLC latencies while increasing their precision, which was significantly correlated with corresponding changes in field potential latencies and their precision. Single afferent neuron recordings from the lateral line revealed a similar intensity‐dependent decrease in first spike latencies and their jitter, which could account for the intensity‐dependent changes in timing and precision of startle response latencies.