Flying Fish

I was out on the deck this morning studying my Spanish grammar (present continuous, reflexive verbs, imperfect subjunctive -- perfectly impossible!) and was lucky enough to see the ship pass through several schools of flying fish.

Flying fish are everywhere in this part of the tropics. We've seen them ever since boarding the ship in Barbados. But, this is the first time I've seen so many at one time. I wish I could get a good photo, but they are small (about 4 to 6 inches long) and fast and I am always too far away for our compact digital to do them justice, so here's a sketch and a photo from the web.

These guys are amazing. They literally jump out of the water and "fly." Apparently, they use their tail to propel themselves upward. Then, once out of the water, they use their pectoral fins to glide above the waves. From the ship it seems that their fins vibrate as they fly over the water. They fly very fast and over long distances for such a small fish (100s of feet at a time?) and then fold up their wings and dive back into the water.

Some of these fish end up on the lower deck in the back of the boat. When they are found there they are often used as bait. (Steve, the chief engineer caught that MahiMahi I wrote about the other day using flying fish for bait.) But, most of them escape that fate and simply fly away from the ship's wake. They are great fun to watch!

They are also great to eat -- lightly pan-fried, grilled, or as sandwiches. We had them in Barbados and we've had them on the ship. Although it boggles the mind to think about how they are caught (with gill nets suspended above the water!), the effort is certainly worth it. Never miss the chance to dine on flying fish! Or, of course, to watch them fly across the ocean.

More images from the web. Apparently it is very difficult to photograph schools of flying fish -- I could only find a painting (with many fewer fish than were in the schools I saw this morning!)