BENEATH TROPIC SEAS 



placed far forward, the expanse of actual flight 

 membrane being considerably greater than in 

 the more familiar synentognathous flying fishes. 

 Gurnards may be said to have great muzzle velo- 

 city but comparatively little trajectory or range. 

 One of these fishes has been known to knock a 

 sailor senseless by a head-on blow between the 

 eyes, as the man stood at the wheel of a schooner. 



A secondary use for the great wing expanse is 

 as a float. Several times, in widely separated 

 oceanic areas, I have seen gurnards, either singly 

 or in a school, sunning themselves at the very 

 surface, with the wings widely spread, floating 

 buoyantly with only occasional flicks of the 

 caudal fin. 



I see no reason why a flying gurnard, whose 

 puldca name is Cephalacanthus volitans, should fear 

 any enemy or need the power of flight for any- 

 thing except pursuit of food or pleasure, for it is 

 one of the thorniest, least edible objects of the 

 sea. The enormous opercular spines are movable 

 laterally, carrying outward with them the gills and 

 the exceedingly spiny maxillary. When thus 

 spread out sideways, the fish is all but unswallow- 

 able by any enemy. To the rear of the cephalic 

 armor and spines the body is covered with ivory- 

 hard, razor-ridged, thorny scales, which increase 

 posteriorly until at the base of the tail they cul- 

 minate in four scales of great size. These are 

 slightly movable and almost all keel, the bases 

 having become contracted, and the scales twisted 



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