CHAPTER XLVIII 



THE ORDER OF FLYING-FISHES 



S YNENTO GNA Till 



The Common Flying-Fish 1 is as necessary 

 to a perfect ocean voyage as a whale and a school 

 of " dolphins." Suddenly and unexpectedly it 

 breaks out of the side of a wave, and with a trem- 

 ulous flutter of wing-like pectoral fins, — that from 

 the ship's forecastle seem to be ultramarine 

 blue, — it feebly guides its course away from the 

 disturbing mountain of throbbing steel. The 

 flight of a Flying-Fish is usually from four to six 



in schools so near to the island of Barbadoes that 

 the fishermen capture it in great quantities, for 

 the markets. It is not unusual to see 2,000 in the 

 market at one time. I have heard much of the 

 pursuit of the Flying-Fish by the "dolphin" 

 (Coryplnnia hippurus), but have seen nothing 

 of it. 



The Flying Gurnard or Sea Robin (Dac-ty- 

 lop'ter-us vol'i-tans), is a wonderful pink fish, 8 



•:-"- ' ::'; ■ 





Drawn by J. Carter Beard. 



THE COMMON FLYING-FISH. 



feet above the water, and is sustained for from 

 50 to 100 feet. The greatly enlarged pectoral fins 

 act as wings, and furnish the motive power. 



Someone has raised the question, "Does a 

 Flying-Fish move its wings in flight? " Of course 

 it does. On all up grades it gives a stiff wing- 

 stroke about every three feet, rises to over- 

 top each advancing wave, and drops as the wave 

 rolls on, like a stormy petrel. 



This is distinctly a mid-ocean fish, but it swims 

 1 Ex-o-cae'tus vol'i-tans. 



. inches long, that is found from Cape Cod to Brazil. 

 It is often picked up on the sea-shore near pound- 

 nets, because fishermen throw it away as un- 

 marketable; but as fish become more scarce, it 

 will be eaten. Its pectoral fins are of enormous 

 size, but useless for flight. This fish is not 

 closely related to the flying-fish, but belongs in 

 the Order of Spiny-Finned Fishes. It is the 

 only representative of its Family in the New 

 World, and only one other species exists else- 

 where. 



409 



