Mālolo, Flying Fish by Brian Savage
MALOLO-there are said to be nine species of Malolo in Hawaiian waters, ranging in size from 1 in.- 16 in. They are excellent gliders and pilots that can use the wind to their advantage and cover distances up to a quarter mile. Malolo often leave the water to escape predators, like Mahi Mahi and are sometimes picked-off by birds mid-flight or flop into boats. The longer, lower portion of the Malolo tail is used as steering and to give prolonged airtime by sculling it in the surface waters. Malolo, like seals and dolphins who do “porpoising”, can also cover distances with less resistance by leaping out of water, though it is mostly believed that flying for Malolo is only a means for escape from fast predators. It’s an amazing silvery sight to see Malolo fly out from under a boat or a windsurfer, but you certainly wouldn’t want to get hit by a large Malolo flying at torpedo speeds.
Their ability to fly from predators also makes them difficult to catch, but the laziest of fisherman have found that if they shine a light at night, then the plankton loving Malolo may just jump into their boats. Fisherman have used encircling nets with a cover to haul a catch. This escape ability has also made Malolo quite hard for biologists to study and relatively little is known about their behavior underwater. Small and young Malolo are called “smurfs” and take about 1-2 years to mature to full size. Their sticky eggs are often attached to anything floating in the water column and their roe, called tobiko in Japan, is a delicious part of a sushi meal.
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