Texas Gulf Coast Fishing

Flying Fish

FLYING FISH - Family Exocoetidae

Distribution: Flying fish live in all of the oceans, particularly in tropical and warm subtropical waters.
Description: Their most striking feature is their pectoral fins, which are unusually large, and enable the fish to hide and escape from predators by leaping out of the water, flying through air a few feet above the water's surface. Most are small, approximately 6 inches long. Flying Fish feed mainly on plankton.
Predators: include dolphins, tuna, marlin, birds, squids and porpoises.
Flight: Flying fish are gliders, not true flyers like birds, bats, and insects, all of which fly by beating their wings. To glide upward out of the water, a flying fish moves its tail up to 70 times per second. It then spreads its pectoral fins and tilts them slightly upward to provide lift. At the end of a glide, it folds its pectoral fins to reenter the sea, or drops its tail into the water to push against the water to lift itself for another glide, possibly changing direction. The curved profile of the "wing" is comparable to the aerodynamic shape of a bird wing. The fish is able to increase its time in the air by flying straight into or at an angle to the direction of updrafts created by a combination of air and ocean currents.