3 minute BBC earth vid of the little dudes. How have I never seen these things before! Incredible
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
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Nobody does nature as good as the BBC and Sir David Attenborough. Nobody.
Carry it around and make nrowwwn sounds like an airplane
YEET THE FISH !!
hmm....how many million years until we have proper flying fish? Maybe it's slower than land-air and land-water because the sky doesn't have as much food?
There are several major hurdles, and no particularly strong evolutionary drive to overcome them.
The first is breathing. Fish "breath" water. Shifting to air takes a huge reconfiguration. It also compromises their ability to process water.
The second is power. "Flying" fish are actually gliders. They build up momentum in the water before launching themselves into the air. They don't actually have the ability to flap and maintain their flight. Developing the muscles for this would likely compromise their swi.ing slightly. That would be a far bigger issue, compared to a bit of extra gliding.
A flying fish's goal is to break contact with an underwater hunter, before reentering the water. A steerable glide is more than enough of this. There is simply no pressure to advance it further.
Step 1:
Survive the humans
I don't think I ever processed that these are real and would have wings. It doesn't seem right. I don't like them.
Still more natural than birds - who tf ever thought we would fall for such an obvious spy trick?
I feel like I want to show this to creationists because it would just break their brains a bit. They'd quickly go back and say god planned it, but I love the pure evolution here.
My dad told me some story about how people would catch flying fish with fishing poles that had little gas engines on them. This would be in the 70s on an large Atlantic island.
Atlantis?!
What part of the fishing pole was motorized?
The reel. I heard this a long time ago. I fish a lot now but only fresh water so I can only guess what the deal was. Could be just to reel them in fast since they pass so quick. Could also be used to raise a net quickly. But they were rod with I think chain saw engines.
Now that I'm thinking about it, electric motorized reels are popular today for deep sea fishing. Maybe these were actually the 70s prototype to haul fish up 300m and catching flying fish is another story I'm mixing it up with.
Edit: I'm so sure I remember the cover of a fishing magazine that had like 3 people on the bank with these chainsaw rods to catch flying fish.
Seeing these in choppy seas is interesting. You'll see a fish fly straight out the side of one wave, fly 100 feet through the air and right back into the side of another wave. Super unnatural looking.
Fish says: "DO IT! aim at the ocean and DO IT!"
I mean, you probably should throw it like a paper airplane (with form, and not stupendously forcefully), or at least put it back in the water. It is a fish, it will asphyxiate if you just keep holding it.
don't they glide for ridiculous lengths of time tho?
Apparently the longest ever recorded glide is 45 seconds.
Fish don't have lungs, so the analogy is kind of busted, but some humans can hold their breath for 30 seconds, some 2 minutes, some 5 minutes, but overall it doesn't take long for brain damage/death to occur.
I'd guesstimate that a flying fish would be probably irrevivably dead after 3 to 5 minutes out of water.
I tried to look up more specifics on flying fish respiratory systems vs other fish back when I posted this, to see if they have measurably better ability to remain alive out of water for longer than other fish, but I couldn't find much.
I have to imagine it has a greater capacity to hold its breath than the average fish, on account of their gliding and everything.
It's just having a good time
There is a species of flying fish in the northwest Pacific region called Boeing interruptus that struggles to get airborne.
Holy shit, I completely fell for that until I read the replies.
Might be time for my medicine...
This is a common misunderstanding. They have no issue getting airborne, they do, however, have a habit of suddenly being not airborne, with catastrophic results.
they do, however, have a habit for suddenly being not airborne
That's not true - I've heard they're too big to fall.
Careful! I've heard of what happens to Boeing whistleblowers.
They sleep with the flying fishes
Probably not flying, though.
They fish with the sleeping flies?
They fly with the sleeping fish.
I've seen those things once in my life while on a boat in the Philippines. Really quite something to experience in person.