What Does a Flying Fish Look Like? A Detailed Explanation of the Flying Fish's Physical Features
The flying fish is a schooling pelagic fish of tropical and warm temperate waters, a collective term for about 40 species of marine fish in the family Exocoetidae of the order Atheriniformes, widely distributed in warm waters around the world, with a total of 8 genera and 50 species, the most numerous in the Pacific Ocean, followed by the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean; 6 genera and 38 species have been recorded in China and its adjacent waters, with the greatest number of species in the South China Sea. Let's take a look below at what the flying fish looks like!
What does a flying fish look like?
Flying fish are all small in body size, with a maximum length of about 45 cm, possessing wing-like hard fins and an asymmetrical forked tail. Some species have two wings with only the pectoral fins enlarged, such as the widely distributed Exocoetus volitans. Some have four wings, with both the pectoral and pelvic fins large, such as the California flyingfish (Cheilopogon pinnatibarbatus californicus). The body is relatively short and stout, and the pectoral fins are exceptionally long, reaching up to 3/4 of the body length, in a wing-like shape. Thanks to the well-developed shoulder girdle and pectoral fins, as well as the assistance of the caudal fin and pelvic fins, they can leap out of the water and glide for more than 100 m; this ability enables flying fish to escape pursuit by predators such as dolphinfish and swordfish.
What do flying fish eat?
The main food of flying fish in the sea is tiny plankton. Every year in April and May, they travel from near the equator to China's inland seas to spawn "fry" and reproduce. The eggs are light and small, and the membrane on the egg surface has filamentous protrusions, making them very suitable for attaching to seaweed. In the past, based on the spawning habits of flying fish, fishermen placed many gill nets hundreds of meters long in the sea along the routes the fish had to pass through when spawning, using this method to catch them, but ever since the state introduced protection measures, this beautiful fish has been protected.
Can flying fish really fly?
Flying fish do not actually fly. Whenever it is about to leave the water surface, it must swim at high speed in the water with its pectoral fins pressed tightly against the sides of its body, rising steadily like a submarine. The flying fish strikes the water forcefully with its tail, and its entire body shoots into the air like an arrow released from a bowstring. After leaping out of the water, it opens its long, bright pectoral and pelvic fins to glide rapidly forward; the "wings" do not flap, and it relies on the thrust of the tail to perform a brief "flight" in the air.