Atlantic flying fish

날치 떼

A fish that spreads wing-like fins and glides tens of metres above the waves. It launches from the water at around 60 km/h by beating its tail rapidly. It takes to the air to escape hungry predators below.

See it on the 3D globe →

At a glance

Class: Fish
Lives in: Caribbean Sea
Top speed: about 70 km/h
Habitat: open ocean

Quick answers

Where does the Atlantic flying fish live?

It lives in the open ocean of the Atlantic Ocean. On the globe you can find it near Caribbean Sea.

How fast is the Atlantic flying fish?

It can reach about 70 km/h.

The Atlantic flyingfish (Cheilopogon melanurus) is a flying fish that spreads its large wing-like fins to glide above the waves. It has two big front wings and two smaller ones behind. It usually grows to about 26 cm, with the longest recorded at 32 cm.

It has a cylindrical body, a large tail, a green to blue back and a white or silver belly. It lives in the tropical Atlantic and was first described by the French zoologist Achille Valenciennes. Flying fish are a favourite food of many sea predators, and the fish are caught by people too.

How does a fish fly?

Flying fish do not flap their wings. They launch from the water by beating their tail very fast, then glide on their fins. A flight can cover about 10 metres or more, and some flights are much longer.

They take to the air to escape hungry predators below. The lower lobe of the tail is long, so the fish dips it into the water to push itself off the surface.

Telling them apart

The Atlantic flyingfish looks much like the Mediterranean flyingfish, so scientists separate them partly by water temperature: one lives in tropical seas, the other in subtropical ones.

Young fish differ from adults, with uneven dark colour on their fins and short barbels on the chin that help them sense their surroundings. Their chin barbels help them sense the world while they are young.

Fun facts

Flying fish do not flap their fins; they glide on them after launching out of the water.
It has four wings: two big and two small.
It glides instead of flapping its fins.
Its record length is 32 cm.
In Korea, schools of flyingfish come to the south coast each spring.