Flying Fox

[WhistlingBadger]

Hi, all. Just curious: Does anyone know why these fish are called flying foxes? I don't really see the family resemblance, do you? Where does the name come from? None of my usual sources seem to know.
Grey-Headed-Flying-Fox-Size.jpg
flying-fox-01.jpg

[mbkemp]

Hi, all. Just curious: Does anyone know why these fish are called flying foxes? I don't really see the family resemblance, do you? Where does the name come from? None of my usual sources seem to know.
Grey-Headed-Flying-Fox-Size.jpg
flying-fox-01.jpg

That is an interesting question, maybe it due to their foxlike reflexes? When I lived in Kansas fox would come to the fence and run back and forth to mess with the Labrador....,

[Rocksor]

If that is Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus, then it may have to due with its nature of constant darting or flying around the aquarium, and being semi- aggressive like a red tail shark or like a fox.

[chiefbrody]

Like instead of a cat-fish its a fox-fish

[marc4]

The name comes from the fox-like face.

marc4

[WhistlingBadger]

Wow, the flying fox thread lives! Marc, that seems the most likely. But really, I don't see that their faces are any more fox-like than anybody else's. Sometimes I think fish dealers make up these names just so plain looking fish will sell. Real estate developers do the same thing. There's a nondescript desert subdivision (with a muddy creek running along one edge) near here called "Shadowbrook lane." Well, if you like the shadows of sagebrush, I guess.

[DoubleDutch]

Will I be related to the Flying Dutchman ?

[angelcraze2]

Sometimes I think fish dealers make up these names just so plain looking fish will sell.

Agree. The first angelfish that really caught my attention were labeled "diamond angelfish". There's no such strain lol. Not that pearlscaled angelfish aren't pretty, but the name added to my purchase as a newbie...wow, diamond angelfish! That's just one example.

[marc4]

Wow, the flying fox thread lives! Marc, that seems the most likely. But really, I don't see that their faces are any more fox-like than anybody else's. Sometimes I think fish dealers make up these names just so plain looking fish will sell. Real estate developers do the same thing. There's a nondescript desert subdivision (with a muddy creek running along one edge) near here called "Shadowbrook lane." Well, if you like the shadows of sagebrush, I guess.

They look a little similar when you see a fox up close. I had the same question a couple years ago and looked it up. That was the answer I was given. I guess it is as good as any. Interestingly, most of their kind eat fruit. There is also a fox called a bat eared fox. Guess the fox wanted to trade names!