Atlantic Flyingfish

As its name suggests, the Atlantic flyingfish is only found in the pelagic to neritic zones of the Atlantic Ocean. Atlantic flyingfish live in surface waters near shore, where they are preyed upon by several species of larger fishes and seabirds, such as the wahoo and Sooty tern..

Atlantic flyingfish rarely occur outside of these coastal waters and show a strong preference for shallow areas. Consistently, C. melanurus tends to live in warm tropical waters and generally do not go further than about 640 km (400 mi) away from the shoreline. In the western Atlantic, they are known to live in Gulf Stream waters from Massachusetts south to Brazil. They are found in the Caribbean Sea and around the Antilles, while in the north, they are found off the coast of Canada. Off Africa, Atlantic flyingfish are known from Senegal to Liberia and have been reported from São Tomé and Príncipe. They are especially abundant off the coast of North Carolina and other nearby regions of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Atlantic flyingfish primarily consumes zooplankton using its gill rakers and surface feeding techniques. Their diet is highly linked to their epipelagic habitat preference, as plankton can be found in shallow or top layers of water. However, the gills of the Atlantic flyingfish, which are vital for effective feeding, can be subject to parasites such as parasitic flatworms of the suborder Gastrocotylinae.