I’ve seen those things once in my life while on a boat in the Philippines. Really quite something to experience in person.
There is a species of flying fish in the northwest Pacific region called Boeing interruptus that struggles to get airborne.
This is a common misunderstanding. They have no issue getting airborne, they do, however, have a habit of suddenly being not airborne, with catastrophic results.
I mean, you probably should throw it like a paper airplane (with form, and not stupendously forcefully), or at least put it back in the water. It is a fish, it will asphyxiate if you just keep holding it.
Apparently the longest ever recorded glide is 45 seconds.
Fish don’t have lungs, so the analogy is kind of busted, but some humans can hold their breath for 30 seconds, some 2 minutes, some 5 minutes, but overall it doesn’t take long for brain damage/death to occur.
I’d guesstimate that a flying fish would be probably irrevivably dead after 3 to 5 minutes out of water.
I tried to look up more specifics on flying fish respiratory systems vs other fish back when I posted this, to see if they have measurably better ability to remain alive out of water for longer than other fish, but I couldn’t find much.
Fish says: “DO IT! aim at the ocean and DO IT!”
Seeing these in choppy seas is interesting. You’ll see a fish fly straight out the side of one wave, fly 100 feet through the air and right back into the side of another wave. Super unnatural looking.
