Glider Flyingfish, Cheilopogon atrisignis
Glider Flyingfish, Cheilopogon atrisignis. Fish colllected during the Robertson Expedition to the Revillagigeo Islands, November 2022. Photographs and identifications courtesy of Dr. Benjamin Victor, Coralreeffish.com.
Glider Flyingfish, Cheilopogon atrisignis, Sans Wing Spotting. Fish colllected during the Robertson Expedition to the Revillagigeo Islands, November 2022. Photograph and identification courtesy of Dr. Benjamin Victor, Coralreeffish.com. Identy reconfirmed by DNA analsyis.
The Glider Flyingfish, Cheilopogon atrisignis, is a member of the Flyingfish or Exocoetidae Family, that is also known as the Greater Spotted Flyingfish and in Mexico as volador planeador. Globally, there are twenty-four species in the Cheilopogon Genus, of which eleven are found in Mexican waters, five in the Atlantic Ocean and six in the Pacific Ocean.
The Glider Flyingfish has an elongated cylindrical relatively deep body with a short head that has a blunt snout and a small mouth equipped with teeth with one point. They are reddish-brown dorsally transitioning to silver ventrally. Their dorsal fin has distinct black spots in the middle. They have large pectoral fins with many small black spot and a narrow clear border, however, some fish do not have significant wing spotting. Their anal fin is clear; their caudal fin is gray-brown, and their pelvic fins are gray. Their anal fin has 9 or 10 rays and originates under the sixth dorsal fin ray; their caudal fin is deeply forked with the lower lobe being significantly larger than the upper lobe; their dorsal fin has 14 to 16 rays; their pectoral fins reach past the anal fin base and the pelvic fins are long with an origin that is closer to the gill covers than the caudal fin base. They are covered with large smooth scales. The juveniles have two fused barbels under the chin.
The Glider Flyingfish is an oceanic pelagic species found near the surface to depths up to 20 m (67 feet). They reach a maximum of 33 cm (13 inches) in length. They feed on fish larvae, pelagic fish eggs and zooplankton. In turn they are preyed upon by birds, dolphins, dorado, marlins, porpoises, squid, and tuna. They have large pectoral fins and are capable of leaping and gliding considerable distances above the ocean surface to avoid predation from which they obtain their common name. Reproduction is oviparous. The Glider Flyingfish is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, diet, growth, habitat, longevity, movement patterns, and reproduction.
The Glider Flyingfish has is found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans but a very limited range in Mexican being found only around the coastal waters of the Revillagigedo Islands. They are common around offshore oceanic islands.
The Glider Flyingfish is similar and might be confused with the Beautyfin Flyingfish, Cypselurus callopterus (long barring on the pectoral fins), the Blackspot Flyingfish, Cheilopogon dorsomacula (pectoral fins with wide dark margins) and the Reflector Flyingfish, Cheilopogon spilonotopterus (unmarked pectoral fins).
From a conservation perspective the Glider Flyingfish is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are seldom seen by humans and due their rarity, they are of limited value and interest to most.