How do flying fish fly?

Flying fish is named because it can fly at sea. In fact, the so-called "flying" is just a pair of developed pectoral fins in the chest sliding on the water.

Flying fish has a pair of quite large pectoral fins, the length of which is 2/3 of the body length. Flying fish swim at high speed in the water before taking off, and their pectoral fins and ventral fins are tightly attached to their sides, like submarines. When the speed is high enough to get out of the water, the pectoral fins are completely open, like the wings of an airplane. However, at this time, the ventral fin is on both sides of the body and the caudal fin is still in the water. When the flying fish is about to leave the water, the tail fin slaps the water quickly and forcefully, gains momentum, and then takes off. After gliding for a certain distance, the flying fish fell into the water, its tail plunged into the water again, and its body jumped out of the water for a second gliding flight. Under normal circumstances, flying fish can fly several times in a row. Flying fish can fly several meters above the sea surface, with a gliding speed of 20-30 meters per second and a gliding distance of several hundred meters. When the wind is downwind, the farthest distance can even reach nearly a kilometer.

Although flying fish do not rely on flapping pectoral fins and ventral fins to increase their flying speed in the air, they can use fins to control their flying speed and direction. Both horizontal and vertical directions can be accurately controlled. Therefore, although flying fish are sometimes close to the ship, they will not collide with the ship.