TV cameras catch 'record' flying fish: 20-05-2008
Footage captured by a TV crew filming off the southern tip of Japan may have recorded one of the longest flying fish flights ever.
The fish, which was airborne for 45 seconds, may have beaten the previous 42 seconds record held by a fish discovered in America in the 1920s.
Travelling alongside the ferry, the fish is thought to have been going at about 20mph, the BBC reports.
Junji Yonezawa from the Centre for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Outlying Islands told the BBC that the flight must have been near to the maximum time the fish could spend out the water because brachial respiration is impossible while moving through the air.
The footage captured by a NHK crew appears to show the fish beating the water with its fin, possibly in an attempt to continue the flight.
The ability to fly is more of an ability to glide as the fish do not flap like actual birds.