Flying Fish, Bay of Bengal

Samyak Kaninde


Samyak Kaninde

Chosen as 'Picture of the Week'

Flying fish take to the air to avoid predators. They can attain speeds of up to 70 km an hour and reach a height of 6 m above the ocean surface!

While on pelagic birding trips in the Bay of Bengal off Chennai, we would encounter flying fish. They would take off from under and around the boat, fly over the sea and re-enter the water! It is an amazing sight to watch a  school  of these fish in action.

Flying fish live in all of the oceans, particularly in tropical and warm subtropical waters; there are about sixty-four species of them in the world. Thanks to their streamlined torpedo shape, they gather enough underwater speed to break the surface, where their long, wing-like pectoral fins enable gliding flight for considerable distances above the water’s surface.

In this image, you can clearly see the highly specialised ‘wings’ of the flying fish, which enable it to fly over the water with ease.

Information courtesy: Wiki & NatGeo.

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