Yellow-wing Flyingfish, Cypselurus poecilopterus (Valenciennes 1847)


Other Names: Spotted Flying-fish, Yellowing Flyingfish

Yellow-wing Flyingfish, Cypselurus poecilopterus. Source: Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial

Summary:

A deep bluish flying fish abruptly becoming silvery-white below, a yellowish dorsal fin with small reddish-brown spots, yellowish-brown pectoral fins with brown to blackish spots arranged in regular transverse bands, and greyish-brown pelvic fins, sometimes with numerous small spots.


Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2022, Cypselurus poecilopterus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 28 Mar 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/3044

Yellow-wing Flyingfish, Cypselurus poecilopterus (Valenciennes 1847)

More Info


Distribution

Off Dampier, Western Australia, to off Lizard Island, Queensland; also Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere the species is widespread in the tropical, Indo-west-central Pacific: from East Africa to southern Japan, east to Wake Atoll and Johnston Atoll, Samoa and Tonga, and south to New Caledonia.
Inhabits near surface waters and is rare in the open ocean.

Features

Dorsal fin 11-13; Anal fin 7-9; Predorsal scales 24-28; Lateral-line scales 45-48.
Body elongate, broadly cylindrical. Pelvic fins inserted much nearer to head than origin of lower caudal-fin lobe. Snout blunt, mouth small, lower jaw slightly shorter than upper jaw; juveniles without barbels. Gill rakers well developed. 
Origin of anal fin behind 3rd soft ray of dorsal fin; pectoral fins high on sides, extremely long, always extending beyond posterior end of anal fin, first anterior rays unbranched; pelvic fin long, extending beyond of anal fin when depressed; caudal fin deeply forked, lower lobe longer than the upper. 
Scales large, cycloid, easily shed; lateral line without branch at throrax.

Etymology

The specific name poecilopterus is from the Latin poecilio- (= varicolored) and pterus (= fin) in reference to the greenish pectoral fins dotted with a large number of irregular round, sienna brown coloured spots, darker in the centre (translation).

Species Citation

Exocoetus poecilopterus Valenciennes, in Cuvier & Valenciennes 1847, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons Vol. 19: 112, pl. 561. Type locality: New Britain.

Author

Bray, D.J. 2022

Resources

Atlas of Living Australia

Yellow-wing Flyingfish, Cypselurus poecilopterus (Valenciennes 1847)

References


Allen, G.R., Steene, R.C. & Orchard, M. 2007. Fishes of Christmas Island. Christmas Island : Christmas Island Natural History Association 2 edn, 284 pp. 

Hobbs, J-P.A., Newman, S.J., Mitsopoulos, G.E.A., Travers, M.J., Skepper, C.L., Gilligan, J.J., Allen, G.R., Choat, H.J. & Ayling, A.M. 2014. Checklist and new records of Christmas Island fishes: the influence of isolation, biogeography and habitat availability on species abundance and community composition. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 30: 184–202 

Larson, H.K., Williams, R.S. & Hammer, M.P. 2013. An annotated checklist of the fishes of the Northern Territory, Australia. Zootaxa 3696(1): 1-293 

Parin, N.V. 1996. On the species composition of the flying fish species (Exocoetidae) in the west-central part of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Journal of Ichthyology 36(5): 357–364 

Parin, N.V. 1999. Family Exocoetidae. pp. 2162-2179 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, T.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 4 pp. 2069-2790. 

Russell, B.C. & Houston, W. 1989. Offshore fishes of the Arafura Sea. The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory 6(1): 69-84 

Shakhovskoy, I.B. & Parin, N.V. 2010. A comparative description and distribution of the flying fishes -- Cypselurus poecilopterus, C. simus, and C. callopterus, sorted out into the species group of spotwing species of the subgenus Poecilocypselurus. Journal of Ichthyology 50(8): 559-579 https://doi.org/10.1134/S0032945210080011

Shakhovskoy, I.B. & Parin, N.V. 2022. A review of the flying fish genus Cypselurus (Beloniformes: Exocoetidae). Part 2. Revision of the subgenus Poecilocypselurus Bruun, 1935 with descriptions of three new species and five new subspecies and reinstatement of Exocoetus apus Valenciennes and E. neglectus Bleeker. Zootaxa 5117(1): 1-109. https://doi.org/10.11646/ZOOTAXA.5117.1.1

Valenciennes, A. in Cuvier, G.L. & Valenciennes, A. 1847. Histoire Naturelle des Poissons. Paris : Levrault Vol. 19 544 pp. pls 554-590.

Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37233010

Depth:0-20 m

Habitat:Pelagic, near surface waters

Max Size:27 cm TL

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CAAB distribution map