{"id":6080,"date":"2023-11-30T12:12:52","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T12:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/?p=6080"},"modified":"2023-11-30T12:37:37","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T12:37:37","slug":"peixes-voadores-nos-acores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/2023\/11\/30\/peixes-voadores-nos-acores\/","title":{"rendered":"Flying fish in the Azores"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is it that flies but doesn't have wings? These are our unique flying fish which are \noften spotted during our whale watching trips.<\/a>.
In the Azores, there are two species of flying fish (Cheilopogon heterurus and Exocoetus \nvolitans) but they are difficult to distinguish when sighted at sea. C. heterurusis the most \nfrequently observed species in the Azores while E. volitans is less frequent possibly due \nto its more tropical distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The Cheilopogon heterurus, belonging to the Exocoetidae family, has an elongated \ntorpedo-shaped body with a dark coloration on the upper part of the body and lighter \non the bottom and can reach an average length of 25 cm (max. 45 cm). Their pelvic fins \nare small while their pectoral fins are extremely developed and larger than normal which \nallows them to glide out of the water, a characteristic that gives them the name flying \nfish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their caudal fin has an irregular shape with the lower lobe larger than the upper \nlobe which serves as a propeller and allows them to create different patterns on the \nsurface of the water. Juveniles can be distinguished from adults by their small size and \nby having vertical bands on the body and dark spots on the fins (Fig. 1).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Their \"flights\" can reach considerable distances (maximum recorded of 400 meters) with \n2-3 meters of height and can reach speeds capable of accompanying a speed boat for \nquite some time. This flight behavior can be used as an escape mechanism from \npredators or when frightened by the presence of boats. However, once in the air they \ncan become prey for seabirds (Fig. 2).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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In the Azores, flying fish have a wide distribution, from pelagic zones (open sea) to neritic \nzones (coastal areas) and are usually sighted more frequently during the summer and \nearly fall when the water temperature is higher. They have a diverse diet with \nzooplankton making up the majority of their diet and can also feed on small crustaceans. \nDespite their high abundance, they are fish with no commercial interest.\nOur whalewatching trips at Picos de Aventura are very diversified, not only is it possible \nto observe whales and dolphins but also other equally fascinating forms of life. Book your experience with us here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article written by our biologist In\u00eas Dias.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Qual \u00e9 coisa qual \u00e9 ela que voa, mas n\u00e3o tem asas? S\u00e3o os nossos peculiares peixes-\u0002voadores, que s\u00e3o muitas vezes avistados durante as nossas viagens de whalewhatching. … Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[51,31,25,34,35],"class_list":["post-6080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-mar","tag-acores","tag-avistamentos","tag-mar","tag-whale-watching","tag-whale-watching-azores"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6080"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6109,"href":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6080\/revisions\/6109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picosdeaventura.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}