SOFT-RAYED BONY FISHES 107 



hundred yards, although it is difficult to judge these distances 

 at sea with any degree of accuracy. At the end of a flight 

 the lish either dives gracefully into the water, or again starts 

 sculling movements with its tail preparatory to taking off 

 for another leap. The flight of a fish of the " two-winged " 

 type is essentially similar to that already described, but here 

 the fish appears to dart diiectly from the sea into the air, 

 and to return to it with a splash instead of with a graceful 

 dive. 



The breeding habits of the Flying-fishes are as yet imper- 

 fectly known, but, in some species at least, the eggs are 

 deposited in a rough kind of nest in a mass of drifting sar- 

 gassum weed. Like those of the Gar-fishes, the eggs are 

 provided with sticky, hair-like threads, which serve to anchor 

 them one to the other and to the weed. The newly hatched 

 young are of a yellowish-orange colour, and are said to bear 

 a remarkable resemblance to the berry-like " floats " of the 

 sargassum. They soon take on a variegated livery, which 

 serves to conceal them from enemies, while they lurk among 

 the weed, but which is quite unlike the blue and silvery 

 coloration of the full-grown fish. A curious feature of the 

 young of some Flying-fishes, but by no means of all, is the 

 presence of a single or double barbel or feeler hanging from 

 the chin, which may be quite large and elaborately fringed. 

 The purpose of this structure, which is discarded as the little 

 fish grows up, has not yet been explained. 



As food, Flying-fishes are regarded by those who have 

 tried them as great delicacies, the flesh being firm and palatable. 

 One species is looked upon as a food-fish of importance in 

 California, and' is sometimes caught in its thousands off Santa 

 Barbara. In the island of Barbados there is a regular fishery, 

 which extends from December to July, and reaches its peak 

 in the spring. 



OPAH OR MOON-FISH. 



(Family Lampridid^ ; Genus Lampris.) PI. I a. 



Soft-rayed Bony-fishes with a deep, compressed, but 

 rather plump body, roughly oval in shape, and with a small, 

 smooth head. The body is covered with very small and smooth 



