Heart of the Nation: Ashmore Reef

BIOLOGIST Rohan Clarke was counting seabirds at Ashmore Reef when a bunch of exotic winged creatures suddenly appeared.

flying fish

BIOLOGIST Rohan Clarke had been counting seabirds at Ashmore Reef, off the Kimberley coast - it's a haven for the Masked Booby, Wedge-Tailed Shearwater, Lesser Noddy and Nankeen Night-Heron - when a bunch of even more exotic winged creatures suddenly appeared.

"Spotfin Flyingfish began exploding out of the water all around us," he says. "We were cruising to our overnight anchorage at the time, and they were being spooked by the boat." The sea was glassy calm, so he was able to hang off the bow with his camera and snap one in mid-flight.

These fish are only 20cm long, but what a marvel: they accelerate to around 40km/h underwater before breaking the surface and extending their "wings", which are in fact enlarged pectoral and pelvic fins. By hugging the surface of the water, occasionally dipping the lower lobe of their tail fin under the surface and beating it furiously like an outboard motor, they are capable of flights of a hundred metres or more.

Why do they do it? There's been scant research into the world's 60-odd species of flyingfish (a notable exception being the Korean scientists who in 2010 had some of them stuffed and put in a wind tunnel, to study their aerodynamics), but Clarke reckons their flight has evolved as a tactic for evading predators. The 38-year-old lecturer from Monash University in Melbourne, who is studying seabirds of the Kimberley to gauge the long-term effects of the 2009 Montara oil spill, says he often sees patches of sea "boiling" as schools of baitfish are corralled against the surface and smashed by swordfish and tuna. "Flying is a very effective means of escape," he says.

Well, up to a point. A bird called the Red-Footed Booby has learnt to follow boats in the area, knowing the bow wave often flushes out flyingfish; when they take to the air, the Booby pounces from above. It's a fascinating interplay of evolutionary and learned behaviour - but does anyone else reckon these little critters deserve a break?