These strang fish, flying gurnards, are distinguished by their large pectoral fins the back portion of which has become a great, wing like structure.
These fish are distinguished by their large pectoral fins the back portion of which has become a great, wing like structure. Although many people think of the flying gurnards as flying fish, they are not. Their bodies are elongated with scales that are firmly attached and the preopercle gill cover has strong, sharp spines while the opercle has no spine. They have small teeth in the jaws and tend to bear a resemblance to the sea robins but differ in the arrangement of the skull bones. The flying gurnards have nasal bones that are fused but no true skull bones. A bony tube is formed by the first three vertebrae which are fused and firmly attached to the rear of the skull. The gill openings are extremely small and the spiny part of the dorsal fin is shorter than the softer part. They have spineless anal fins that are very short, with the pelvic fins found near the throat display one spiny ray and four soft rays. On both sides of the tail shaft there are two ridges of scales while the swim bladder is closed exhibiting external muscles.
Three species of flying gurnards are found in the Indo-Pacific regions while one species is found in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. There is one family, the Dactylopteridae, with five genera of these fish. In earlier research the flying gurnards were many times confused with the flying fishes which are known to leap out of the water. In very early description given by Greeks and Romans, these fish were called swallows that flew through the air making noises with their pectoral fins. In the second century B. C., Oppian classified the flying gurnards with scorpions and dragons, both of which have fatal stings. Later ichthyologists such as Salvianus, Belon and Rondelet gave a more accurate description when they said that the species appeared to fly over the water to escape their enemies. Predators of the flying gurnards include sea breams and mackerel, but they are often caught when airborne by frigate birds, white tailed sea eagles, procellariids, gulls and tropical birds.
The young flying gurnards have small pectoral fins that are so different from the adults that they were once place in another genus. Watching the flying gurnards is quite an interesting hobby. They fly out of the water in groups one at a time, leaning forward and then disappear into the ocean as another group shoots into the air. This continues group after group and is especially interesting at night when these fish glow in a phosphorescent light. If the waters are calm the beating of their pectoral fins can be heard along with a whistling sound that comes from air shooting through the gill openings.
These somewhat colorful fish are a basic yellowish brown on the outer body with bright blue spots. As a bottom dwelling fish they spend most of their time crawling around on the ocean floor in search of food. Little is known of the breeding habits of this fish other than like some scorpaeniforms the flying gurnards spawning habits lead to external fertilization of the eggs. The purple flying gurnard is found on the eastern coast of Queensland, New South Wales, near Tahiti, New Guinea, eastern Africa and India is one of the more colorful of the species with the upper body a pale violet to purple, a pink to white belly and violet spots on the head. The upper part of the trunk shows dark violet spots and stripes while the fins have purple markings.
