By Gabriela Hogue
Steaming towards our first station in Norfolk Canyon we were treated to a fireworks display of flying fish. As the bow cut through the water and spotted dolphins frolicked in the waves of the boat, flying fish began gliding just above the surface of the water in order to get out of the way. They can propel themselves out of the water and use their wing-like fins to glide through the air. Researchers have discovered that they can travel up to 400 m and the longest glide was measured at 45 seconds. A typical flight is about 50 meters. At the end of their glide, they either fold their pectoral fins in order to reenter the ocean or they drop their deeply forked caudal fin (tail) into the water to push against the water for another lift for more gliding.
So, what are flying fish? They are in the family Exocoetidae and can be found in all the oceans, especially in tropical and subtropical waters. Within the family, there are 60+ different species, in 7-9 different genera (these numbers depend on who you talk to). There is a lot of diversity in the reproductive strategies within this family. Some species have buoyant eggs which they lay in the open ocean to float along the surface. Other species also lay their eggs in the open ocean but the eggs have stringy filaments which get wound up in floating debris (like sargassum). Others spend their entire lives in coastal areas, or return to coastal areas to reproduce. Flying fish primarily eat zooplankton, and are in turn an important food source for many marine predators. They are also an important commercial fish in Asia. Along with their meat, their roe is collected and used in sushi.
A gliding flying fish is a beautiful thing to behold. Cruising right above the water and using the air currents and their caudal fins to glide farther and farther, it’s no wonder that in the early 1900’s, flying fish were studied as possible models used to develop airplanes.