Flying Fish
a genus of sea fishes. The common flying fish is from twelve to fourteen inches long. Its pectoral fins, corresponding to front legs, are placed well forward of the middle of the body. They are wide, and long, like the wings of a bird. The flying fish, most writers say, has no power of beating the air like a bird and thus propelling himself with these fins; but, by leaping vigorously from the water to a height of say sixteen feet, and spreading these fins, it can sail on a downward course to a distance of possibly two hundred yards. When pursued by their enemies, they may be seen flying by hundreds and thousands. It is not unusual for a fish to fall on a passing ship if the deck be not over ten to fifteen feet high.
Another leaping fish, the flying gurnard of the Mediterranean, has the power of directing its course and sustaining its leap even to a greater extent than the true flying fish of the Atlantic. Its flight at night is marked by phosphorescent gleams of light that form a brilliant spectacle.
The flying fish of southern California is pursued by the large fish known as the tuna. In an effort to escape, it projects itself into the air by a twisting filip of the tail. It rises a matter of sixteen feet, and, with a favoring breeze, is capable of coasting a quarter of a mile. The tuna races along under the flying fish aiming to catch it, so it is claimed, as a player does a ball. Sportsmen amuse themselves by shooting the flying fish as they rise. The sport might be more popular were it not that the plunging tuna is quite capable of sending an ordinary rowboat to the bottom.
Charles F. Holder in the Scientific American writes about flying gurnards. We quote the following paragraphs:
The fishes are veritable knights of the fin; are armored cap-a-pie, the head covered by a bony cap from which several spines turn back-ward. The side or pectoral fins are large and winglike, the rays connected by webs presenting an extraordinary surface, and seemingly having all the attributes of a wing. They are beautifully colored as well, and a marked contrast to the ordinary flying fish, which is usually a pure silver below and green or blue above; but the flying gurnard is a resplendent creature ablaze with tint and color.
The adult gurnard is about twelve inches long, and I have more than once dodged it as it came flying along the surface. There is a marked variation in color. I have seen them in a vestment of deepest blue; again a crimson, or a combination of both. The wings are often olive green in color, but I have seen them a deep scintillating blue, and often they are green splashed with spots of vivid blue, almost iridescent. The tail is sometimes tinted a pale violet. Such a radiant creature, flashing like a gem in the blazing sunlight, not one, but a dozen, or twenty dashing over the surface, appeals to observers in different ways. The layman who has never seen them before admires the brilliant display, the fish disappearing like some dazzling insect as it dashes through the air; and in nine cases out of ten the observer will be willing to take affidavit that the fish is flying, as the fins or wings appear to flutter; but the fact is that the flying gurnard is an animated aeroplane. It dashes out of the water at full speed, spreads its wings and soars, not flies, the rush through the air causing the weblike wings to flutter, giving the impression that the animal is moving by the beating of its wings.
The gurnard, at least so far as my observation goes, cannot fly as far as the California flying fish, which covers an eighth of a mile with ease, yet I have seen a gurnard sail out of sight, have seen it pass over a boat four or five feet from the water, and the fish is often blown aboard vessels, in several instances men being knocked down by it. In one instance known to me, a schooner was plying between some of the keys of the outer reef, but one man being on deck. The men below noticed that the vessel was up in the wind, and ran on deck to find their companion senseless from a wound between the eyes; a gurnard near by on the deck was the explanation. The head of the fish is a most formidable weapon of offense as a projectile, being as hard as a stone, and reaching backward from it are four long, sharp spines, which have all the appearance of barbs to this living arrow. The head is blunt, rising almost directly from the mouth, altogether giving the gurnard a pugnacious appearance.
In parts of the Barbadoes these fishes are highly esteemed, as one of the best of edible fishes. The natives down in the Caribbean Sea round up the flying gurnards of that region in great seines and take them by thousands. The sight is often of great interest, as when a school is found, and it is surrounded by the big net, the fliers go into the air by hundreds, presenting a most animated picture; the blacks shouting and laughing, and dodging the hard-headed fishes, which dash over the nets, sometimes hitting the natives. The net is either hauled upon the beach, or upon the various boats, which are filled to the brim with gorgeous fishes.
The flying gurnards, at least those observed by me, are surface fishes, preferring to live where they can leap into the air and soar away from their enemies. It is somewhat singular that inventors who are experimenting with airships do not study the flying fish, which is an ideal model, the most perfect soaring machine ever seen or likely to be seen. The pose of the flying fish in "soaring" is never pictured properly in books. Engravings usually show them parallel to the water, but they stand in their relation to the water at an angle of about forty-five degrees, the tail hanging down. When the speed is great the angle is more acute, and vice versa. If an airship could be built on the plan of the flying fish, it would be an instantaneous success.