Fish that Fly
Figure 1. Abe's Flying Fish C. abei Flying is one of those seemingly astounding adaptations leaping (intended) from a lowly terrestrial existence to the sky. This should be the hallmark of human evolution with the pinnacle being a world-controlling sky-people. Alas, that has yet to occur. This apex of an evolutionary leap was mundane enough to first come about over 400 million years ago by insects in the Devonian period. Terrestrial vertebrates made the leap over 230 million years ago when Pterosaurs took to the sky. Birds, of course, starting 150 million years ago with Archaeopteryx, became the rulers of the sky. Bats followed 100 million years later. Not to be left out, fish, have been giving it a go since before the pterosaurs when Potanichthys xingyiensis took to flying, or at least gliding, in the middle Triassic. These fish are considered the ancestors of some extant flying fish. With such an early beginning its a wonder that fish have not taken over the skies l...