Alwyne Wheeler and the Flying Fishes

One or more species of flying fish occasionally stray from southern warm waters into the north-east Atlantic.  Few of these have been examined critically, and in the 19th and early 20th century they were all assumed to be Exocoetus volitans, a small species only 19 cm (7.5”) long.  It is well-described as a ‘two-winged flying fish’, because of the short pelvic fins.

However, in his annotated list of British fish, published by the British Fish Society in 1992, Alwyne Wheeler states that probably all early records refer to the Greater Flying Fish, Cheilopogon heterurus also known as the Atlantic Flying Fish.  This species reaches a length of 30cm (12”) according to the same author in The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe,1969.

Of the very few Cornish specimens, one was found in the early 18th century, still alive, in the Helford VMCA.  Jonathan Couch writes about this in volume 4 of his A History of the Fishes of the British Isles, but more details appear in a manuscript that William Yarrell received from Jonathan Couch himself and which Yarrell reproduces in his A History of British Fishes 2nd edition (1841).  Here is the extract::

The flying fish   “threw itself on shore on the sandy margin of the Helford River near Falmouth at full two miles from the open sea, where it was found while yet living.  I was informed by Mr John Fox, of Plymouth, in whose collection this specimen was in 1828, that it measured sixteen inches in extreme length, and that the pectoral fin was eight and a half inches long …”

So what species was our HVMCA specimen?  There is only one in the right size range: this is the largest of the flying fish in the Atlantic - Cheilopogon pinnatibarbartus   Alwyne Wheeler writes (in his 1968 book) that one was found in a basket of Herring landed at Hull, and although we do not know where the Herring were caught, “the flying fish was believed to be of British origin”, so we suggest that we can record the Helford specimen as probably C. pinnatibarbatus.

Meantime one of us (PAG) has seen a specimen, 26cm long, that was captured 20 miles WSW of the Eddystone in July this year (2005).  It is definitely a species of Cheilopogon, and it appears to be C. heterurus which has been identified in the N. E. Atlantic, although not yet authenticated in British waters.  It had been provisionally identified as this species by Douglas Herdson, Information Officer at the National Marine Aquarium, from a picture in the Western Morning News for 15 July 2005.

Sadly, Alwyne Wheeler who would certainly have been consulted died on 19th June 2005.  His working life in the Fish Section of the Natural History Museum brought him in touch with fish experts throughout the world. Apart from the few publications that we have mentioned, he wrote other books and many scientific papers.  His very last publication appeared recently.  It was completed by two colleagues, Neil Merrett and Declan Quigley and it is a fitting memorial since it is entitled Additional records and notes for Wheeler’s (1992) list of the common and scientific names of fishes of the British Isles, and was produced as the Fish Society of the British Isles. The importance of the ‘frontier’ waters of the far south-west is well shown by the many species new to the British list that have been caught off Devon and Cornwall.

Paul Gainey and Stella Turk

Extract from HVMCA newsletter No.31 Autumn 2005