flying squid

Zool.: An appellation given by sailors to the cephalopodous mollusks belonging to the genus Ommastrephes, of which fourteen recent species are known. Their English book-name is Sagitta ted Calamary. They can leap out of the water so high as often to fall on the decks of ve els. This is why they are called flying-squids, or sometimes sea arrows. They are gregarious, inhabit the open sea, leaving their eggs floating in long clusters on the surface, are used as bait in the Newfoundland cod fishery, and are the principal food of the dolphins and cachalots, as well as of the albatro and the larger petrels. (S. P. Woodward.) [OMMASTREPHES.] flying-squirrel, s. Zool.: A name given to such of the Sciuridae (Squirrels) as have the skin of the sides very much extended between the fore and hind legs, so as, to a certain extent, to sustain the animal in the air when taking long leaps. Sciuopterus volans is the only European species.