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Showing posts from July, 2009

Beautiful Creatures – Flying Fish

In order to glide out of the water, a flying fish (Latin name "exocoetus") swishes its tail to up to 50-70 times per second,which "vibrates" to produce enough speed to burst through the surface. It then spreads its pectorial fins and tilts them slightly upwards to lift itself to glide through the air. This permits it to sail above the ocean's surface where it can at travel at 70km per mile. The fish is able to increase its time in the air by travelling against or at an angle to the direction of updrafts created by a combination of aircurrents in which the "wings" flutter due to the wind with a maximum glide time recorded to be 30 seconds. At the end of a glide, a flying fish folds up its pectoral fins which have been acting as "wings" to re-enter the sea or drops the lower end its tail into the water where it "vibrates" the lower part of its tail to allow its body to reaccelerate and change direction, providing the thrust to lift i