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Fish in a massive floor-to-ceiling cylindrical fish-tank of marine life from the Pacific Ocean. This unique display is located among diners at the Waterbar restaurant on the Embarcadero waterfront in San Francisco, California.
Flying fish can make powerful, self-propelled leaps out of water into air, where their long, wing-like fins enable gliding flight for considerable distances above the water's surface. This uncommon ability is a natural defense mechanism to evade predators.
Flying fish live in all of the oceans, particularly in tropical and warm subtropical waters. They are commonly found in the epipelagic zone. This area is the top layer of the ocean that extends 200 meters from the surface down. It is often known as the "sunlight zone" because it's where most of the visible light exists.
Nearly all-primary production happens in this zone as there is enough light for photosynthesis to occur. Therefore, the vast majority of plants and animals inhabit this area and can vary from plankton to the sharks. Although the epipelagic zone is an exceptional area for variety in life, it too has its drawbacks.
Due to the vast variety of organisms it holds, there is high number of prey and predation relationships. Small organisms such as the flying fish are targets for larger organisms. They especially have a hard time escaping predators and living until they can reproduce, resulting in them having a lower fitness.
Along with relationship difficulties, abiotic factors also play a part. Harsh ocean currents make it extremely difficult for small fish to survive in this habitat. In fact, prior research has suggested that difficult environmental factors in the flying fish's habitat has led to the evolution of modified fins. As a result, flying fish have undergone natural selection in which species gain unique traits to better adapt to their environments.
By becoming airborne flying fish have outsmarted their predators and environment. This increase of speed and maneuverability is a direct advantage to flying fish, and has given them leverage when compared to other species in their environment.
Research has shown that the flying fish has undergone morphological changes throughout its history. The first of which is fully broadened neural arches. Neural arches act as insertion sites for muscles, connective tissues, and ligaments in a fish’s skeleton.
Fully broadened neural arches act as more stable and sturdier sites for these connections, creating a strong link between the vertebral column and cranium. This ultimately allows a rigid and sturdy vertebral column (body) that is beneficial in flight. Having a rigid body during glided flight gives the flying fish aerodynamic advantages, increasing its speed and improving its aim.
Furthermore, flying fish have developed vertebral columns and ossified caudal complexes. These features provide the majority of strength to the flying fish, allowing them to physically lift their body out of water and glide remarkable distances. These additions also reduce the flexibility of the flying fish, allowing them to perform powerful leaps without weakening midair.
At the end of a glide, it folds its pectoral fins to re-enter the sea, or drops its tail into the water to push against the water to lift itself for another glide, possibly changing direction. The curved profile of the "wing" is comparable to the aerodynamic shape of a bird wing. The fish is able to increase its time in the air by flying straight into or at an angle to the direction of updrafts created by a combination of air and ocean currents.
Genus Exocoetus has one pair of fins and a streamlined body to optimize for speed, while Cypselurus has a flattened body and two pairs of fins, which maximize its time in the air. From 1900 to the 1930s, flying fish were studied as possible models used to develop airplanes.]
Exocoetidae feed mainly on plankton. Predators include dolphins, tuna, marlin, birds, squids, and porpoises.
This image was taken as we sailed on the P & O Arcadia from Suva in Fiji to Sydney in Australia
Linda, the friend I purchased the blue fishes from found two that fell off in her car trunk (boot for you in the UK :\ ). She mailed them to me and I attached them to the fence, but not with the school.
I have Zombies in my sea.
Monocentris japonica is a pinecone fish of the family Monocentridae, found in the tropical Indo-West Pacific oceans, at depths of between 10 and 200 m. Its length is between 8 and 15 cm.
Pinecone fishes are small and unusual beryciform marine fish of the family Monocentridae. The family contains just four species in two genera, one of which is monotypic. Their distribution is limited to tropical and subtropical waters of the Indo-Pacific. Pinecone fishes are popular subjects of public aquaria, but are both expensive and considered a challenge for the hobbyist to maintain.
These fish are aptly named; their rounded, compressed bodies are completely covered (with the exception of the caudal peduncle) with very large, strong platelike scales called scutes which are fortified with prominent ridges. The first dorsal fin is composed of 4-7 strong, disunited spines which vary in length; the second dorsal fin and anal fin are small, spineless and rounded, situated far back of the convex head. The pelvic fin possesses one large erectile spine which can lock into place. The pectoral fins are somewhat elongate and the caudal fin is truncate.
Coloration is typically a yellow to orange, the scales dramatically outlined in black. The eyes are relatively large, and the mouth oblique and subterminal. On either side of the lower jaw there is a bioluminescent organ called a photophore: a pale light is produced by symbiotic bacteria within the organ,[1] and the colour of the light varies with ambient light levels—orange by day and blue-green at night.
The pineapplefish, Cleidopus gloriamaris, is the largest species, reaching up to 30 centimetres (12 in) in length. There is no apparent sexual dimorphism.
Pinecone fishes stick to the sublittoral zone, and are associated with ledges and caves, rocky and (occasionally) coral reefs over a hard bottom. Found at 10–200 metres depth (with juveniles frequenting the shallower end of this range), Pinecone fishes are nocturnal and form schools.
The photophores are thought to play a role in attracting the zooplankton upon which the fish feed; intraspecific communication may also be a use for the light. Little is known of their reproductive biology, but they are assumed not to guard their brood.
New York Aquarium Coney Island NY
These females get into this "fighting" mood, where they size each other up and have a go once in a while
don't see many of these but on the one dive at Pixie Pinacle GBR I found 4 seperate individuals..I like their colourful weird spiky look!
The gulls were really after our food! There were up to 12 gulls on the handrail, waiting for some fish and chips...
i did the mist random thing ever
we had an empty fish tank in our living room and i filled it up and put some water and fish things and took a picture of it
best seen big
By Matthew Phenix
Popular Science
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(PopSci.com) -- When Mercedes-Benz began to contemplate its next generation of high-efficiency small cars, it sought aquatic inspiration.
But instead of considering obvious undersea hot rods like sharks, the Mercedes team turned to a fish that resembled a car: the tropical boxfish.
A native of the Indo-Pacific region, the Ostracion cubicus is surprisingly slick.
Wind-tunnel testing of a clay model revealed a drag coefficient (Cd) of just 0.06, startlingly close to the ideal 0.04 of a water droplet.
Like the droplet, the boxfish's face is small in proportion to its overall length, and its streamlined surfaces encourage air to move over it without creating the turbulence that robs aerodynamic efficiency.
Mercedes' Bionic concept vehicle mimics this functional form.
With a Cd of just 0.19, the four-seat Bionic is significantly more slippery than today's most aerodynamic production vehicle, Honda's two-seat Insight (Cd 0.25).
The design team eschewed expensive, complicated and heavy fuel-cell or hybrid powertrains, opting instead for a 1.9-liter four-cylinder direct-injection turbodiesel that pushes the fishmobile to 62 mph in 8.2 seconds with a combined city/highway fuel economy of 70 mpg.
At a constant 56 mph, the concept car will return an amazing 84 mpg.
Although the Bionic isn't coming to your local dealership, Mercedes does expect it to significantly influence the design language of its next generation of small cars.
A piranha or piraña (pronounced /pɨˈrɑːnjə/, /pɨˈrænjə/, /pɨˈrɑːnə/, or /pɨˈrænə/) is a member of a family of omnivorous freshwater fish which live in South American rivers. In Venezuelan rivers they are called caribes. They are known for their sharp teeth and an aggressive appetite for meat. However, despite the negative media publicity, piranhas are not generally violent and have been known to be domesticated in home and office fish tanks.
- Wikipedia