''Exocoetus obtusirostris'', commonly known as the oceanic two-wing flyingfish or the blunt-snouted flyingfish, is a species of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

native to the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic Ocean. It has the ability to glide above the surface of the water to escape from

predators Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

Description

The species can reach a length of . It is similar in appearance to the tropical two-wing flyingfish (''Exocoetus volitans'') which shares much of its range, but differs in certain characteristics; the head is quite blunt, the forehead sloping steeply down in front of the eyes; the

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s extend as far as the base of the caudal fin; the origin of the anal fin is slightly in front of the origin of the dorsal fin, and the dorsal fin is colourless. Both these two-winged species have very small pelvic fins, whereas other so called four-winged species of flyingfish have pelvic fins that extend at least as far as the origin of the anal fin. Like all flying-fishes, ''E. obtusirostris'' exhibits

countershading Countershading, or Thayer's law, is a method of camouflage in which animal coloration, an animal's coloration is darker on the top or upper side and lighter on the underside of the body. This pattern is found in many species of mammals, reptile ...

, being darkish blue dorsally and white ventrally.

Distribution and habitat

At one time ''E. obtusirostris'' was considered to be a circum-global species, but the similar populations of different oceans were later split into three separate species. As now understood, it is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to tropical and subtropical parts of the Atlantic Ocean. In the western Atlantic its range includes the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

and the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

and in the eastern Atlantic it extends from

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

, the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

and possibly the westernmost

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. It occurs in surface waters, both near the coast and in the open ocean, at depths down to about .

Ecology

The diet of ''E. obtusirostris'' consists of small planktonic invertebrates, mostly

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

s and

chaetognaths The Chaetognatha or chaetognaths (meaning ''bristle-jaws'') are a phylum of predatory marine worms that are a major component of plankton worldwide. Commonly known as arrow worms, they are mostly pelagic; however about 20% of the known species ...

. It is consumed by various predatory fish and by squids, dolphins and seabirds. Fish become mature when they are about in length. The female produces a number of bundles of eggs over a period of around five days, producing an average of 10,000 eggs. All fish will die soon after breeding.

Status

''Exocoetus obtusirostris'' is not the subject of a fishery and no particular threats to it are known. It is common in the Gulf of Mexico but its conservation status in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea are less well known. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has listed its status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2314553 obtusirostris Fish described in 1866 Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Taxa named by Albert Günther