flying feather (fliingfeTH"er)

Same as flight - feather (which see, under feather ). flying-fish (fli'ing-fish), n. Any fish which can sustain itself or make a flight through the air by means of enlarged and wing-like pectoral fins. Specifically - ( a ) A synentognathous fish of the family Exocœtidæ and subfamily Exocetinæ, especially of the genus Exocetus. (See these words.) Nine species of this California Flying-fish ( Exocatus californiensis). genus, and of the related genera Halocypselus and Parexo cœtus, have been taken off the Atlantic coast of North America. There is also a large Californian species, E. californiensis, some 16 or 17 inches long, which has been observed to take very long flights. See the extract. The spe The flying- fishes proper, forming the subfamily of Exocœtines, are distinguished (from other exocœtids] by the development of the pectorals, which are elongated and capable of considerable horizontal extension, so that the fish is buoyed up in the air, which it reaches by vigorous movements of its stout tail and caudal fin... cies of the family are pelagic, and representatives are found in almost all the tropical and warm seas. They a ociate together in schools of considerable size. The aerial flight is not strictly entitled to the name, for the pectoral fins are not used in active progre ion, but are simply employed as parachutes. The fins are more or le vibrated, but it is rather by an opposition to the air than by the volition of the animal. Stand . Nat . Hist ., III. 175. (b) The flying-gurnard, flying-robin, or bat-fish, an acanthopterygian fish of the genus Cephalacanthus or Dacty lopterus, having enlarged pectoral fins divided into two parts, and also able to take short flights in the air. They are pelagic like the others, and go in schools in warm seas, though the best-known species, C. or D. volitans, reaches a high latitude. Some are from 12 to 18 inches in length, and in general they resemble the gurnards ( Triglide ), but differ in many anatomical details. See cut under Dactyl opter us.