Comments on: Fantastic Flight of Flying Fish Filmed

By: Andrew Minnesota

Andrew Minnesota — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:32:55 +0000

Amdusias in some areas of the US snakeheads have been illegally introduced and are killing off native species, and in many instances where a species is introduced in attempts to control the population of another species it does not work out as planned. However there are rarely easy answers to how to deal with a non-native species.

As to the first videos those fish can cover some distance!

By: Rogutaan

Rogutaan — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:42:12 +0000

I’ve never seen a flying fish fly, apart from cartoons. That’s actually pretty neat!

Too bad it’s a Youtube video, so the compression is utter “carp,” as the case may be >.>

By: youcantryreachingme

youcantryreachingme — Mon, 26 May 2008 23:18:55 +0000

Although I haven’t been able to view the videos above just yet, I believe these marine flying fish don’t fly – they glide.

There is a south American characin – the hatchet fish (popular in the aquarium industry) which is the only true flying fish. That is, it beats its pectoral fins to gain height and momentum.

The reason it’s called the hatchet fish is because its keel is shaped like a hatchet. Why? To support all the muscles which attach there for the purpose of flapping those fins. It’s basically the same shape as the keel of a flying bird, but without the bulk of the body and feathers to hide it.

Chris.

PS.. I’ll be happy to be proved wrong and see the marine species flapping away in the video above when I can view it tonight!

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:20:38 +0000

Flying fish make perfect evolutionary sense, and the perception that they do it for no reason is equally misleading. Fish often jump out of the water to avoid predators. Us surface dwellers don’t often see the bigger fish pursuing them, just the ones who jump into our world. Those with an ability to glide farther can land further away, thus better eluding said predators. Simple natural selection takes care of the rest- those who glide farther live longer, have more kids, and those kids who glide farther than others live longer and have more kids with similar traits. Give it a little time and voila!- The figurative flying fish. Nothing mysterious about it.

By: Artist

Artist — Mon, 26 May 2008 17:49:55 +0000

Flying fish seem to seek out the invisible wave of air pushed aside by the bow of the ship as it passes thru the water, usually flying along parallel to the ship’s side and direction, much as dolphins ride just ahead of the ship’s curling bow wave.

They were at least 100 feet away from the side of the giant Carrier I served on, and seemed to fly (or glide) higher out of the water than those accompanying the smaller cruise ship on which I toured the Carribean years later.

Fish emerging from the water further away from the ship seemed to dash off in random directions, and made much shorter flights.

The video clip seems to show the fish swooping away from the ship, then finding the wave and gliding along at that distance.

By: Amdusias

Amdusias — Mon, 26 May 2008 17:45:10 +0000

They need to introduce snakeheads to take care of that carp problem.

By: red_pill_junkie

red_pill_junkie — Mon, 26 May 2008 16:12:16 +0000

“scares the CARP outta them” That was funny

By: shumway10973

shumway10973 — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:21:57 +0000

Flying fish are one of those things that don’t work into any conventional theories of evolution. Especially seeing how they usually do their flying for no apparent reason.

By: fmurphy1970

fmurphy1970 — Mon, 26 May 2008 09:42:52 +0000

Amazing footage, especially the fish gliding for 45 secs. I wonder what evolutionary advantage there is for a fish being able to fly for that length of time. Is it to escape predators, or are they gobbling up insects as they are flying? Anyone got any other suggestions?