Flying Fish

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A life on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep,
Where the scattered waters rave,
And the winds their revels keep
Epes Sargent

Flying Fish
The open ocean is a bottomless depth of the deepest blue. The landscape is featureless: no rocks, no waving forests of seaweed, and no handy crevices to hide in if you are being chased by a ferocious predator with gnashing teeth. Dark, navy water stretches as far as the eye can see, a unique, empty, 3-dimensional environment.

To stay one step ahead of the game in these stark conditions requires the ability to adapt and come up with a successful survival strategy. Many creatures, such as the Ferrari-like tuna, rely on impressive and sustained speed to keep ahead. There is, however, one little fish that has chosen a different path, one slightly off the beaten track; instead of relying on speed underwater it relies on swiftness above the water. The flying fish does just as it name implies: a spurt of acceleration sends its small body hurtling up out of the water. Once airborne, the fish extends a pair of enlarged, wing-like pectoral fins and uses them to glide gracefully a few centimetres above the surface, safe from the snapping jaws of a hungry fish.

A white glider soaring in smooth, silent flight over the English countryside is but a poor imitation of the sparkling silvery blue flying fish as it darts across the surface banking sharply to avoid the bubbling white crest of an oncoming wave. After skittering across the water, the dancing fish suddenly disappears in a flash of reflected light, back into the deep, a safe distance from its pursuer.

The flying fish not only relies on the ability to take to the air to avoid capture, it also has a simple, yet ingenious pattern of camouflage. Its back or ‘dorsal surface’ is tinted dark blue like the watery depths below. Underneath, running along the belly, the scales become a beautiful silvery shade, mimicking the shards of silvery light that filter down from above. The result is that any predators looking down from above or hunting a tasty morsel from below won’t detect the outline of the little fish as it goes about its business, blending seamlessly into its surroundings in its quest to survive and grow.

The rest ... is down to luck!

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