Common Name
Blackwing Flyingfish
Year Described
Valenciennes, 1846
Identification
Dorsal Fin: 10-12
Anal Fin: 11-13
Pectoral Fin: 17-19
Gill Rakers: 21-29 (first arch)
Predorsal Scales: 26-31
Transverse Scale Rows: 6-7.5
Vertebrae: 44-47
Body elongate with a rectangular cross-section. Head length 4.5-5.0 in SL. Eye diameter 3.1-3.3 in HL. Jaw teeth conspicuous and conical. Lower and upper jaw almost equal in length. Palatine teeth absent. Pectoral fins long (1.3-1.4 in SL) with* first two rays unbranched*, fin reaching to caudal fin base. Pelvic fins long (2.8-3.4 in SL), reaching well beyond anal fin origin, with pelvic origin nearer to anal fin than pectoral fin base. Dorsal fin low (longest ray more than 10 times in SL). Origin of anal fin slightly ahead of, equal with, or slightly behind (under 1st-2nd ray) dorsal fin. Caudal fin forked with the lower lobe longer than upper. Lateral line low on side. Pectoral branch of lateral line absent. Juveniles with enlarged pelvic fins and no chin barbel(s).
Color
Dark blue-black above, abruptly paler below. Pectoral fins black with a narrow pale posterior margin. Dorsal and caudal fin gray. Anal fin transparent. Pelvic fin pale with a black spot. Juveniles with a few transverse darker bands and mottled dark fins.
Size
Maximum size to 24cm SL.
Habitat
Pelagic over deep and continental waters. Zooplanktivorous with demersal eggs.
Range
Oceanic: subtropical waters of the North Atlantic from Canada to the northern Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Also in the subtropical southwestern Atlantic off Brazil as a disjunct population.
References
Parin, N.V. 2002a. Exocoetidae (pp 1116-1134). In: Carpenter. 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Vol. 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae-Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guides for Fisheries Purposes. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5.
Parin, N. V. & T. N. Belyanina. 2002b. A review of the flyingfishes of the subgenus Danichthys (genus Hirundichthys, Exocoetidae). Journal of Ichthyology v. 42 (Suppl. 1): S23-S44.
Other Notes
There are two populations of black-winged Hirundichthys in the western Atlantic: one in the northwestern Atlantic and one in the southwestern Atlantic. The northern population was given the name Hirundichthys rondeletii volador and the southern population given the name H. r. rufipinnis (Parin & Belyanina, 2002). Whether the three populations of this species in the Atlantic are distinct species is unclear.