Flying Squid

Flying Squid (Onnastrephes), a genus of decapod Cuttle-fishes (q.v.). The body is long, cylindrical, and pointed posteriorly, with two triangular fins, by help of which the animal can jerk itself out of the water, sometimes so high as to fall as a 'sea arrow' upon a ship's deck. Like other cuttle-fish, they swim rapidly by forcibly ejecting water from their mantle or gill cavity. They are included among those Cephalopods which have the cornea of the eye open, so that the sea-water reaches the lens. Their internal shell or 'pen' is furnished with three diverging rays, and a hollow conical appendage. The species vary in length from 1 to 4 feet. Gregarious in their habits, they prey upon shoals of mackerel and other fishes, and are themselves devoured by dolphins and other cetaceans, as well as by sea-birds. One species (O. sagittatus) is used very abundantly for bait in the Newfoundland cod-fisheries.