The Zoologist— October, 1873. 3737 



A few Notes 07i Flying Fish. 

 By Gervase F. Mathew, R.N., F.L.S. 



During long voyages in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans I have 

 had opportunities of closely observing the habits of flying fish, so 

 perhaps a few remarks about them may not be devoid of interest. 



The first point to be considered is whether these fish make use 

 of their pectoral fins, after they have once sprung from the sea, to 

 aid them in prolonging their flight. Now, in many books I have 

 read it has been stated that these fins are never so used, but kept 

 rigidly expanded until the fish drops into the sea; and, again, 

 somewhere else I have seen it just as confidently asserted that they 

 always make use of them. As far as my experience goes neither 

 of these statements is correct, for I have frequently seen the 

 pectorals used, though not perhaps as a rule, as it entirely depends 

 on the length of flight the fish is desirous of making and the force 

 of the wind at the time. In the Atlantic Ocean during our long 

 passage from Plymouth to Magellan's Straits T never saw a fish 

 flutter its pectorals in any way, but they were by no means so 

 abundant in the Atlantic as in the Pacific Ocean, where these 

 observations were chiefly made, while on a voyage in the tropics 

 from Payta in Peru to Honolulu in the Sandwich Islands. There 

 is no doubt, although, as I have said before, it has been questioned, 

 that these fish when taking long flights have the power to use, and 

 constantly do use, their pectorals to assist them in prolonging their 

 course, for I hare observed that those fish which usually take the 

 longest flights invariably on leaving the sea vibrate their fins 

 rapidly several times in succession, and after proceeding for a 

 hundred yards or so descend with a gliding motion to a wave- 

 crest, strike the water smartly with their tails* and ricocheting 

 proceed onwards with renewed flutterings of the pectorals and 

 fresh vigour. In this way fish can sustain their flight for more than 

 three hundred yards, and at no time when they strike the sea do 

 they entirely submerge themselves. On one occasion a large shoal 

 numbering many hundreds, frightened by the passing ship, sprang 

 from the sea close alongside ; at the time I was standing in the 

 stern walk, and my attention was drawn to them by the noise 

 caused by the fluttering of their numerous fins, and this shoal 



* The lower lobe of the caudal fin is twice the size and double the strength and 

 thickness of the upper portion, 



