Many animals would love to trade their own tail for wings. What animals are there! From time immemorial, we humans have been striving into the sky, thanks to which we have hang gliders, airplanes and other aircraft. But the wings, alas, have not grown. But who would have thought that advanced humanity would deftly go around fish? The flying silver inhabitant of the deep sea has always made a lasting impression on homo sapiens. It was she who became the prototype of a toy flying fish, which in a few months turned into an incredibly popular fun for children and adults. Flying fish (air swimmers) - what is it really?
Wing fins
Here it is - a winged muse from under the water, which inspired the inventors to create aircraft. The fish flying over the waves like a bird, in Latin is called Exocoetidae (and in Russian - two-winged, or flying fish) and belongs to the order Sarganoobrazny, which has as many as 52 species.
The appearance, in particular the vehicle of this representative of the underwater depths, is amazing. This unusual fish from head to tip of tail has a length of 15-25 centimeters, the largest individuals sometimes reach half a meter. Her elongated body has wide, well-developed, fairly strong and rigid pectoral fins, which are very similar to wingspan. In some individuals, each fly-fin is bifurcated - such fish are called four-winged.
A fish flying above the sea has a giant air bubble containing up to 44 cubic centimeters of air! He, along with the wings, helps the marine inhabitant fly and soar.
Subtropic wonder
Fish hovering over the water surface, like birds, lives exclusively in the tropics and subtropics. This species does not tolerate habitat temperatures below +20 o C. Their place of residence is the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, as well as the Red and Mediterranean Seas. The largest cluster of flying beauties is observed in the Caribbean, near Barbadoss.
Flying fish (the photo of which can often be found in glossy travel publications), leads into indescribable delight both travelers and indigenous people, who each time in admiration freeze at the sight of the soaring representatives of this fish family.
Diet features
A winged fish flying over the sea in complete solitude is a rare phenomenon: this species is always kept in flocks, sometimes grouped into large schools. Often they surround passing ships with 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, bottom microorganisms and mollusks.
For whom is flying fish a delicacy? Shark, large squids, birds and humans all love tender tasty meat of a winged curiosity. And caviar, called "tobiko", is widely used in the preparation of Chinese and Japanese dishes. Flying fish is a valuable commercial product, but so far nothing threatens their number in the oceans due to their excellent fecundity. Each individual is able to lay up to 24 thousand eggs.
Water as a runway
Flying fish soar above the water, not for pleasure, but fleeing from imminent danger in the form of predators. How does this happen? Under water in flying fish, the fins-wings are tightly pressed to the body. Before takeoff, it accelerates tail movements several times (up to 70 times per second!), Accelerating to a speed of 55-60 kilometers per hour. Then the fish takes off up to a height of 1.5-5 meters, spreading pectoral fins. The flight range is small and can vary from 1.5 to 5 meters! It is interesting that in the air sea flyers do not know how to control the flight, and therefore often crash into ships or showered on the deck with fish rain.
The duration of the flight can reach 45 seconds, but this is rare. On average, flying fish lasts 10 seconds.
The fish takes off not only to avoid marine predators, but also to the light. Fishermen use this weakness: it’s enough to shine a light over the boat at night, and the lover of light will jump into a trap herself. The flyer will not be able to return back to the sea, since there is no water to disperse the tail.
Procreation
Despite the fact that there are plenty of winged fish hunters, nothing threatens the population. As we already mentioned, each female is able to lay up to 24 thousand eggs for one spawning. They are painted in bright orange color, the diameter of each varies between 0.5-0.8 mm. Where does flying fish lay 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 eat plankton, which gathers near the surface of the sea. The appearance of the kids is different from the adult winged individuals - their colors are bright and colorful.