lautnusantara.com - Flying fish is a ray fin marine fish that can be found in the warm, tropical ocean around the world. This fish has an extraordinary ability that make this fish different from any other fish. It is their pectoral fins that are highly modified to a ‘wings’ that allow them to leap out of the water and glide above the surface for up to 650 feet. This range could be doubled with a good gust of wind. Flying fish is commonly seen in a large school while they are travelling the ocean. Their wings can help them make an escape from predators. Some of this fish have been recorded performing 12 consecutive flights. Flying fish is quite abundant in the wild, because very few species that count as endangered fish.

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Here are some interesting facts about flying fish:

1.    While the majority of this fish is only have two ‘wings’, some species can have up to four ‘wings’ that come from their pelvic and pectoral fins that have been evolved.
2.    This fish is attracted to the source of light, but the reasons is still unknown. Because of this behaviour, fisher will use this knowledge to catch a large amount of flying fish at once. 
3.    The fish will swim toward the surface at a speed of 3 feet per second. To be able to launch themselves up in the air, they will beat their tails rapidly about 70 times per second and hold their fins close to the body. After breaking the water surface, they will spread their wings and start to glide.
4.    Some of this fish will migrate hundreds of miles in a year depend on the food availability. However, because of climate change they might have to change their usual migratory routes.
5.    Based on the fossil record, modern flying fish evolved about 66 million years ago, but a separates group of flying fish, that has extinct now, may have first evolved more than 200 million years ago.

Flying fish a is fish that belong to Exocoetidae family. This name combination has a meaning of ‘sleeping outside’. This name is based by early sailors misconception that these fish returned to the shore at night to sleep. Flying fish is in the same order with needlefish and ricefish. The total species of flying fish is estimated about 40 species that spread out across the ocean. Here are some species of flying fish:

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•    Blue Flying Fish, this fish is also known as the tropical two-wing flying fish. This species of flying fish can be found throughout many tropical waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. The color of its upper body is iridescent blue and lower part color is silvery-white.
•     Black Wing Flying Fish, this fish is also found in the Atlantic and Pacific’s tropical seas. This fish has a distinct color of dark blue on the upper half and white on the lower half.
•    Four-wing Flying Fish, just like its name, this fish species has four ‘wings’ instead of two. This fish commercial rights were a cause of dispute between the nearby Caribbean countries of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.