Many animals would love to trade their own tail for wings. Yes, there are animals! From time immemorial, we humans have been striving for the sky, thanks to which we have hang gliders, airplanes and other aircraft. But the wings, alas, never grew. But who would have thought that advanced humanity would be deftly bypassed by fish? The flying silver inhabitant of the deep sea has always made an indelible impression on homo sapiens. It was she who became the prototype of a toy flying fish, which in a matter of months turned into an incredibly popular fun for children and adults. Flying fish (air swimmers) - what is it really?
Wing Fins
Here she is - the winged muse from under the water, who inspired the inventors to create aircraft. A fish that flies over the waves like a bird is called Exocoetidae in Latin (and in Russian - dipteran, or flying fish) and belongs to the Sargan-like order, which has as many as 52 species. Appearance, in particular the vehicle of this representatives of the underwater depths, is amazing. This unusual fish from the head to the tip of the tail has a length of 15-25 centimeters, the largest individuals sometimes reach half a meter. Her elongated body iswide, well developed, rather strong and stiff pectoral fins, which are very similar to sweeping wings. In some individuals, each primary fin is forked - such fish are called four-winged.
A fish flying over the sea has a giant air bubble that can hold up to 44 cubic centimeters of air! He, along with the wings, helps the sea dweller to fly and soar.
A curiosity from the subtropics
Fish, hovering over the water surface, like birds, lives exclusively in the tropics and subtropics. This species cannot tolerate temperatures below +20 oC. Their place of residence is the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as the Red and Mediterranean seas. The largest concentration of flying beauties is observed in the Caribbean Sea, near Barbados.
Flying fish (whose photos can often be found in glossy travel publications) indescribably delight both travelers and indigenous people, who every time freeze in admiration at the sight of soaring representatives of this fish family.
Features of the diet
Winged fish flying over the sea all alone is a rare phenomenon: this species always keeps in flocks, sometimes grouped in large shoals. Often they surround passing ships in a dense ring. These peaceful flyers are absolutely not aggressive - rather, they themselves are food for predators. The diet of flying fish consists of plankton, small crustaceans, benthic microorganisms and molluscs.
For whom is flying fish a delicacy? Shark, large squid, birds and man - everyone loves the tender tasty meat of a winged curiosity. And caviar, called "tobiko", is widely used in the preparation of Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Flying fish is a valuable commercial product, but so far nothing threatens their number in the oceans due to their excellent fertility. Each individual is able to lay up to 24 thousand eggs.
Water like a runway
Flying fish soar above the water not for pleasure, but to escape the imminent danger in the form of predators. How does this happen? Under water, flying fish have fins-wings tightly pressed to the body. Before takeoff, it accelerates its tail movements at times (up to 70 times per second!), accelerating to a speed of 55-60 kilometers per hour. Then the fish flies up to a height of 1.5-5 meters, spreading its pectoral fins. The flight range is small and can vary from 1.5 to 5 meters! Interestingly, in the air, sea fliers do not know how to fly, and therefore often crash into ships or fall on the deck with fish rain.
The duration of the flight can reach 45 seconds, but this is rare. On average, the flight of a flying fish lasts 10 seconds.
The fish takes off not only to avoid marine predators, but also to the light. This weakness of hers is used by fishermen: it is enough to shine a lantern over the boat at night, and the lover of light will jump into the trap herself. The flyer will no longer be able to return to the sea, since there is no water to disperse with her tail.
Procreation
Despite the fact that there are plenty of winged fish hunters, nothing threatens the population. As we have already mentioned, each female is able to lay up to 24 thousand eggs in one spawning. They are painted in a bright orange color, the diameter of each varies between 0.5-0.8 mm. Where do flying fish lay their eggs? Photos taken by many people show that this fish is not particularly picky when choosing a "house" for future offspring. Caviar is attached to everything that literally gets under the fin - to garbage, algae, bird feathers, branches and even coconuts brought into the sea from land.
Flying fish fry feed on plankton that collects near the surface of the sea. In appearance, the kids differ from adult winged individuals - their colors are bright and colorful.
