Flying Fish

Body elongate, thick, somewhat flattened ventrally; snout shorter than eye, blunt; palatine teeth usually absent; dorsal and anal fins set far back on body, their bases short; dorsal fin low, rays at anterior end the longest; anal fin origin slightly before, or 1 or 2 rays behind dorsal fin origin; pectoral fins strikingly long, 60 to 70 % of SL, only first ray unbranched; pelvic fins large, reaching well beyond anal fin origin; more than 25 scale rows of predorsal scales; dorsally, the color is usually iridescent blue or green in life; dorsal fin colorless or only slightly pigmented; pectoral fins dark, with a pale basal triangle and a narrow white margin (on trailing edge when extended) (Ref. 3720).

Spawns on the water surface and to a depth of 20 m (Ref. 6834). Post-spawning mortality may explain the disappearance of mature cohorts at the close of the spawning season in June (Ref. 6838).

Oceanodromous. Migrating within oceans typically between spawning and different feeding areas, as tunas do. Migrations should be cyclical and predictable and cover more than 100 km.

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 11; Analspines: 0; Analsoft rays: 11 - 12

Feeds on fish and copepods (Ref. 8995).

Occurs in surface waters both near and far from the coast (Ref. 5217). Forms schools. Capable of leaping out and gliding for long distances above the water. Seasonal variation in abundance was noted in the eastern Caribbean countries, a phenomenon that may be due to post-spawning mortality (Ref. 6838). The most important commercial fish species of the eastern Caribbean (Ref. 6504). Considered a good food fish; marketed fresh.

fisheries: commercial; bait: usually

Western Atlantic: Western Bank, Gulf Stream off Virginia, USA and northern Gulf of Mexico to northern Brazil, including the Caribbean Sea

Occurs in surface waters both near and far from the coast.

nektonic