The Amazing World of Flyingfish

If you travel the open ocean anywhere in the tropics, you are very likely to see flyingfish gliding alongside your boat. The Amazing World of Flyingfish, published in July 2014, is a new book devoted to the natural history of flyingfish.

Compiled by Steve Howell, who began photographing flyingfish as a way to pass time on pelagic birding tours, the book identifies different flyingfish species, how they actually fly, their anatomy, where they live, what they eat and all manner of other features related to their way of living.

The book includes stunning photographs that reveal the myriad shapes, colours and patterns of flyingfish around the world.

Some flyingfish facts:

• Baby flyingfish are called ‘smurfs’, have 1″ wingspans and can still fly.
• The longest recorded flight of a flyingfish is 45 seconds.
• Flyingfish flights can cover up to about half a kilometre in total distance, often at speeds of 30-60 km/h.
• Although often thought of as tropical fish, flyingfish can be found as far north as New England and Nova Scotia.
• Flyingfish face predators from above (boobies and frigatebirds) and below (fast-swimming tuna and dolphins).
• Flyingfish also face human predators - they are regularly fished and their eggs (known as tobiko) are used in sushi.

This easy-to-read book brings together all that is known about the anatomy, habits, predators, choice of habitat of flyingfish - including some descriptive and somewhat whimsical names like Purple Haze, Oddspot Midget, Big Raspberry, Pixellated Midget, Pacific Necromancer and Violaceous Rainmaker. This book provides a rare insight into these spectacular marine creatures.

Steve NG Howell is a senior leader with WINGS, an international bird tour company, and has spent almost four years travelling throughout the world’s oceans. His books include Rare Birds of North America and Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America.

The Amazing World of Flyingfish

Steve NG Howell

Princeton University Press

ISBN: 9780691160115
eBook | ISBN: 9781400853007