MASTERS OF THE WATER-BONY FISHES 



279 



Fig. 157. Flying gurnard. 



FLYING GURNARDS: Family Dactylopteridae 



These fishes have very large, winglike pectorals which, when folded back, 

 reach nearly to the tail. They are of tropical distribution. The coloration varies 

 with the surroundings. The ground color is usually olive or brownish, and the 

 pectoral fins are mottled. 



FLYING gurnard: Dactyloptevus volitans 



Size: Up to 1 foot. 



Distrihution: West Indies to Cape Cod. Rare to the north. 



Identification: Same as for family. 



Habits: This is, as Beebe and Tee-Van (1933) say, the most versatile of fishes. 

 It can walk, use its fins as hands, feet, or oars, and, of course, swim. The special 

 adaptations of this suborder reach their epitome here. Otherwise, the habits are 

 similar to the sea robins. Beebe and Tee- Van (1933) say that they are able to 

 glide. Breder (1948) adds that the flight is not as long as that of flying fishes. 

 Longley and Hildebrand (1941) doubt that this fish can fly, since "the pectorals 

 are so thin and flexible that the fin droops almost of its own weight." They can 

 walk on their pelvic fins better than the sea robins can and are most often seen 

 propped up or moving on these fins over sandv bottoms in shallow water. The 

 activities of gurnards may deserve even more careful observation in their natural 

 habitat than those of the sea robins. 



Gobies: Suborder Goboidei 



This is a distinct group of unclear relationships. Typical gobies have no lateral 

 line and have the ventral fins united into a sucking disc. The spiny and soft 

 dorsal fins are typically distinct, and the soft dorsal and anal fin reflect each 

 other in size and shape. In all of these respects, gobies differ from the very 

 similar blennies, but the best way to tell gobies and blennies apart is not, 

 in most cases, anatomical. Gobies are much less eellike in shape than blennies 

 and their movements are likewise much less serpentine. They are frequently 

 seen propped up, or adhering by their ventral fins, on sand and mud flats, rocks, 

 reefs, or in tidepools, but their movement is very quick and of a darting nature, 



