SKIMMING THE SURFACE 



miles an hour amble of the octopus, which approximates 

 to the walking speed of a man. These are of course speeds 

 taken at random from the rising scale of fish progression. 



The flying-fish's underwater speed is greatly exceeded 

 when it takes to the air. In fact the common flying-fish of 

 the larger variety (Catalina) holds the record for the 

 fastest speed through the air authentically recorded, of 

 any flying creature of the sea : fifty miles an hour in a 

 favourable wind. This particular fish has been known to 

 travel a quarter of a mile through the air before falling 

 to the surface again — easily the record air distance 

 travelled by any creature which rises from beneath the 

 sea. 



Considering that the best authorities agree that the 

 fish is literally shot through the air by the "sculling move- 

 ment" of its tail, what must be the enormous force of that 

 initial propulsive efifort? The speed attained by that 

 terrific thrust of the fish's tail-muscles exceeds the speeds 

 of such birds as the lapwing, the curlew and the starling 

 which travel by wing propulsion. It is seven miles an 

 hour faster than the fastest speed ever attained by a race- 

 horse on land,* and equal to the speed of a charging lion. 



Common to the sub-tropical trade-wind belts of the 

 world, flying-fish often take to the air to escape the 

 attacks of their enemies, such as bluefish, albacore, 

 bonitos, tunas, swordfish and porpoises; but they also 

 shoot into the air when disturbed by ships, and for other 

 reasons unknown to us. Several authorities suggest that 

 they sometimes do it for sheer joy of living. While in 

 actual flight through the air they are often chased by 

 birds — who probably resent the invasion of their own 

 realm. 



Of the two types of flying-fishes, the true flying-fish and 

 the gurnards, the latter are the more curious. The 

 gurnard is an armoured fish, for its large bony head has 



*43 m.p.h., by the famous American racehorse, Man o' War, who on one 

 occasion did the J mile in 21 seconds. 



39 



