Flying Fish

[badhorsey]

I've just got back from Marmaris in Turkey. Whilst snorkeling, I saw an interesting fish - about eight inches long, with what appeared to be a long fin extending from just behind the head to 3/4 the way along the body. Could this have been a flying fish, or as one of my friends suggested, a trigger fish?

[New Forester]

Sounds rather like a flying fish. Shaped like a rather elongated herring, with very long pectoral fins -- those are the ones behind the gills. Very tasty too. I think they are found in the Med. Try http://oceanlink.island.net/oinfo/biodiversity/flyingfish/fl yingfish.html Trigger fish are heavily built with quite short fins: http://www.snap-shot.com/pages/fish/trigger.html

[New Forester]

But if the long fin is along the back, it's something else...

[badhorsey]

The fin or spine was connected just behind the head, and then continued unattached along the body. Sounds like it was a flying fish indeed, which is very cool! It swam away before I could eat it.