Lydia Ofosu-Boateng

The biology of fishes

In warm oceans, flying fish jump out of the water, using their feather-like fins to soar up to 200 meters before returning to the ocean. That's 11 times faster than Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps. It can raise its back like a brake, stopping suddenly in the middle of swimming. Each of these visual features is made possible by the shape of the fish, which in many different species is a soft body, long fins and tail. Thousands of fish species share these characteristics, each introducing their own variations on the theme of survival in unique habitats. What drives these common fish behaviors, and what do they reveal about the more than 33,000 species of fish that live in the world's rivers, lakes and oceans?