What Is It?: Skyfish
May 7th, 2008 by timbotron
Skyfish (also known as “rods” or “solar entities”) are a fairly recent cryptozoological phenomena – since the beginning of affordable video cameras. They appear as small semitransparent rods with ridged lateral membranes [top right and left photos, artist's reconstruction bottom left]. According to enthusiasts, they can only been seen through a video camera – they dart through the air at such a velocity that they are unseen by the naked human eye.
The reality: There is no record of anyone ever catching a skyfish, though a Chinese effort to catch them (in 2005) revealed ordinary flying insects. Given that all skyfish evidence comes from video footage – and first-hand observations from skyfish enthusiasts/idiots – the answers to the mystery are obvious: frame-rate, motion blur, birds, and insects. The combination of the slower frame-rate of most video cameras (50-60 fps) and the frequency of ‘wing-flap’ of insects and (small) birds in flight produces a blurred/elongated body with multiple wing-flap cycles within a single frame set. A similar effect can be seen in high speed footage of birds and insects in flight [bottom right photo].
How to Catch a Skyfish:
Bonus Round:
The stick used to catch skyfish is called a “spoodle.”
May 10th, 2008 at 1:30 am
I watched that whole dam thing thinking I was going to see one of them catch a Skyfish.
I feel ripped off.
April 21st, 2009 at 3:03 am
i appreciate the info, but one thing disturbs me though: don’t be too judgmental, you don’t have to call them idiots…
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:57 pm
It sounded better than “retards.”
June 9th, 2009 at 10:34 am
MonsterQuest did a whole ep on them. Pretty well done in terms of suspense, I have to say. But then, we find out, they are swallows.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:57 am
stranger things in heaven and earth