Wildlife Gardeners - North American Wildlife Gardening  

Go Back   Wildlife Gardeners - North American Wildlife Gardening > Wildlife Gardeners of North America Unite > Aquatic Animals

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 08-06-2010, 05:37 AM   #1
WG Staff
 
Staff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Default Fact or Fiction: Can a Squid Fly Out of the Water?

Fact or Fiction: Can a Squid Fly Out of the Water?
To escape predators in the ocean, these cephalopods will speed away by shooting a jet of water. But can squid use that behavior to take to the air and control their trajectories?
August 2, 2010
By Ferris Jabr

Fact or Fiction: Can a Squid Fly Out of the Water?: Scientific American
Quote:
"Hulse was shooting with burst mode on his camera, so I know exactly what the interval is between the frames and I can calculate velocity of squid flying though the air," O'Dor says. "We now think there are dozens of species that do it. Squid are used to gliding in the water, so the same physiology probably allows them to maneuver and glide in the air. When you look at some of the pictures, it seems they are more or less using their fins as wings, and they are curling their arms in [a] shape that could easily be some kind of lifting surface."

From fin to wing
The 2004 paper's authors argue that "gliding" is too passive a term to describe what squid do when they leave the ocean for the air: "flight" is more fitting.

"From our observations it seemed like squid engage in behaviors to prolong their flight," Maciá says. "One of our co-authors saw them actually flapping their fins. Some people have seen them jetting water while in flight. We felt that 'flight' is more appropriate because it implies something active."

The aerodynamic benefit an airborne squid derives from flapping fins and spiraled tentacles is not...
__________________
The tendency of man's nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards.
-Mencius
Staff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-11-2010, 06:16 PM   #2
WG Contest Coordinator
 
tineckbone's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Browns Mills, NJ
Default

flying squid I can handle. When someone snaps a picture of a flying pig or flying cow, then it is time to worry. Unless of course it is during a tornado in which case the time for worry is already upon you.
__________________
I am a long haired, tree hugging, dirt worshiping environmentalist.
tineckbone is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
fact, fiction, fly, squid, water

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:03 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.3.2