BIG FLYING-FISH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21328, 1 November 1932, Page 12

BIG FLYING-FISH

WING SPAN OF 24 INCHES MOTOR TANKER'S VISITORS An outsize in flying-fish was one which flew on board the big Norwegian motortanker O. A. Ivnudsen when she was clearing the tropics on her run from San Pedro to Wellington. Tho fish, which came on board shortly before daybreak one morning, measured just over 19in. in length, and its wings had a spread of fully 24in. While this is by no means a record for size the fish was an unusually largo one. Its wings were preserved by the chief officer, the fish itself being cooked for the officers' breakfast. Flying-fish are, of course, very plentiful in tho tropics, where they are seen in "flight" in large numbers. These are, however, of no great size, and their "flight" is swift and short. It is said that the larger fish are more often seen on the "edge" of the tropics—in fact, one master says that the further from the tropics the larger are the flying-fish. He says he has seen largo flying-fish in the approaches to the Ilauraki Gulf. The officers of the O. A. Knudsen state that flying-fish avoid their ship in daylight, but at night they apparently fly toward the ship's lights, occasionally landing on tho decks. The chief steward mentioned that one evening two flying-fish struck tho wall of the midship deckhouse close to a lighted porthole with such force as to kill both of them, one having its head completely smashed.