Common Name
Smallwing Flyingfish
Year Described
Valenciennes, 1847
Identification
Dorsal Fin: 13-15
Anal Fin: 14-15
Pectoral Fin: 11-13
Pelvic Fin: 6
Gill Rakers: 30-36 (first arch)
Lower jaw not elongate at any size. Pectoral fins very long and tips reach pelvic fin base. Caudal fin with enlarged lower lobe.
Color
Body bright silvery with an olive back. Lateral stripe silvery. Pectoral fin dark.
Size
Maximum size to 185mm TL.
Habitat
An offshore oceanic species.
Range
North Carolina to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern Caribbean Sea.
References
Collette, B.B. 2002. Hemiramphidae (pp 1135-1144). 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.
McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. 1998. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. Volume 1: Myxiniformes to Gasterosteiformes. University of Texas Press, Austin. i-viii + 1-1112.
Other Notes
The W. Atlantic population has been given the names Oxyporhamphus micropterus similis. It is transitional in form between a flyingfish (Exocoetidae) and a halfbeak (Hemiramphidae) and has been moved between these two families. Genetic evidence is needed.