Scientific Name:

Parexocoetus mento

Common Name:

African sailfin flyingfish

Taxonomic Group:

Fishes

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Information

Key Identifying Features

The body is elongated, compressed and rounded ventrally. It is up to 12 cm (commonly 7–10 cm) in length. The dorsal colour is dark blue, with a silvery white belly. The dorsal fin is dark and the pectoral fins are greyish.

It has a short head, large eyes and a small mouth with the upper jaw protruding. The dorsal fin has 9– 12 soft rays, and the anal fin 10–12 soft rays; the longest dorsal fin rays barely reach the tail fin base. The anal fin base lies directly below the dorsal fin base. The tail fin is deeply forked, and its lower lobe is longer than the upper. The pectoral fin is long; the pelvic fins have 13–14 soft rays but they do not reach beyond the anal fin base.

Identification and Habitat

It is mainly found in large schools in near-shore waters and never spreads to the open sea. When the African sailfin flyingfish is threatened, it can leap out of the water and glide over the surface.

Reproduction

Flyingfish eggs are negatively buoyant and typically have long sticky filaments that serve to attach them to floating objects.

Similar Species Description

There are several other Exocoetidae species in the Mediterranean. In all of them the pectoral fins reach back beyond the anal fin base; in P. mento, however, the pectoral fin is long but does not reach beyond the anal fin base.

Parexocoetus mento Similar Species (0010) EN — **Dactylopterus volitans**

Parexocoetus mento Similar Species (0020) EN — **Hirundichthys rondeletii**

History and Route of Introduction

This species originates from the Indo-Pacific region; it is widespread from East Africa, including the Red Sea, to Australia. It migrated through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, where it was first recorded from Palestine in 1935, and it has subsequently been recorded in the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean in the coastal waters off Syria, Egypt, Libya, Albania, and Tunisia.

Ecological Impacts

It feeds on zooplankton and also on small fishes. Its impacts are unknown.

Economic Impacts

This species is caught occasionally in purse seines but its relatively small size means that it is of little commercial importance. As its main food is pelagic invertebrates and fish larvae, it could have a major impact on other commercial species.

Management Options

These include a) early eradication of new populations by MPA technicians through fishing, and b) maintenance of healthy and abundant assemblages of top predators to encourage natural control through predation.