Fish of the Exocoetus genus of the Exocoetidae (flying fish) family of the Exocoetoidea superfamily of the Belonoidei suborder of the Beloniformes order of the Acanthopterygii superorder.
(Tropical two-wing flyingfish. Photo © navsource.org)
Tropical two-wing flyingfish (Exocoetus volitans) was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778).
It is a pelagic coastal species. It inhabits the surface waters, usually no deeper than 20 meters. The maximum recorded length is 30 cm; specimens up to 20 cm long are more common. It feeds on plankton and small crustaceans.
It is a rare inhabitant of the southern part of the Adriatic Sea, swimming from the Mediterranean Sea in late summer – early autumn.
Names of Tropical two-wing flyingfish (Exocoetus volitans) in other languages are as follows:
Peshk dallëndyshe (Albanian), Vliegende vis (Dutch), Χελιδονόψαρο τροπικών (Helidonopsaro tropikon) (Greek), Dag meofet (Hebrew), Pez volador (Spanish), Pesce volante (Italian), Fliegender Fisch (German), Ptaszor (Polish), Peixe-voador (Portuguese), Peste zburator (Romanian), Обыкновенный двукрыл (Obyknovennyi dvukryl) (Russian), Poletuša tropska (Serbian, Croatian), Morska lastovica (Slovenian), Exocet volant (French).