There are nine species of flying fish that inhabit the waters around Hawaii, and some forty plus species worldwide. They prefer the warmer waters, and will migrate towards or away from the equator to find the ideal temperature. Summer is when they are most abundant here off-shore. Sailors have occasionally reported flying fish landing on their decks, including the lelepo which flies at night, often attracted by the on-board lights. Flying fish lay their eggs on anything that floats, such as driftwood, palm fronds, and even plastic debris. The eggs are also tasty to sea birds, and some researchers infer that the large amounts of plastic found in the bellies of albatross may be due to their ingestion of it while gathering mālolo eggs. Humans enjoy the meat and roe as well; tobiko is a type of sushi featuring the eggs of the Japanese flying fish. In Hawaii, the mālolo were eaten raw, or wrapped in ti leaves and cooked.
When you are considered a tasty morsel by dolphin, tuna, mahimahi, and other fast swimmers of the ocean, you better have a pretty good get-away plan. The flying fish, or mālolo take to the air. Sculling their tails rapidly, spreading their elongated pectoral fins, and then angling upwards, they break the surface of the water. Once air-born, they catch updrafts and then glide for as long and as far as they can. While they cannot beat their pectoral fins like true wings, the airfoil curve of the appendage helps create lift, and they can tilt them a bit to bank left or right. The record for maximum time aloft is 42 seconds, time enough to befuddle a hungry predator. A distance of a hundred feet or more can be covered in a single bound. Ah, but mother nature isn't going to let these mighty leapers off so easily: waiting above are a myriad of hungry sea birds. 'Iwa, noio, and 'A (frigatebird, black noody, booby) are just a few of the birds adept at skimming low over the ocean's surface, mouth agape to scoop up an unlucky malalo.
There are nine species of flying fish that inhabit the waters around Hawaii, and some forty plus species worldwide. They prefer the warmer waters, and will migrate towards or away from the equator to find the ideal temperature. Summer is when they are most abundant here off-shore. Sailors have occasionally reported flying fish landing on their decks, including the lelepo which flies at night, often attracted by the on-board lights. Flying fish lay their eggs on anything that floats, such as driftwood, palm fronds, and even plastic debris. The eggs are also tasty to sea birds, and some researchers infer that the large amounts of plastic found in the bellies of albatross may be due to their ingestion of it while gathering mālolo eggs. Humans enjoy the meat and roe as well; tobiko is a type of sushi featuring the eggs of the Japanese flying fish. In Hawaii, the mālolo were eaten raw, or wrapped in ti leaves and cooked.
1 Comment
Laurie
3/14/2017 10:56:25 pm
Please correct your typos: should be malolo, not malalo.
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