Flying Gurnard
Dactyloptena orientalisLembeh Strait
Sulawesi Indonesia
9 meters
October 2008
The flying gurnard (only known representative of its family), built, in general, on the “sea robin” plan, is remarkable for its enormous pectorals. When it is about half grown or older, these reach nearly to the base of the caudal fin if laid back. When spread, they have the form of enormous rounded fanlike wings. Other conspicuous respects in which the flying gurnard differs noticeably from its relatives, the sea robins, are that the first five or six rays of each pectoral, with their interconnecting membrane, form a separate fin, having no connection with the remainder of the pectoral except at the base; that the few lowermost rays of each pectoral fin are not separate, in the form of feelers, but are continuous with the remainder of the fin; that the first two spines of the dorsal fin are separate, that the bony armor covering the front and top of the head reaches rearward considerably beyond the origin of the dorsal fin on either side to end in a stout spine, that each gill cover is extended rearward as a stout spine about as far as the axil of the pectoral fin, and that the scales are much larger and each armed with a short stout spine.
