Skyfish are cryptozoological entities, in the same vein as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, but more recently reported, starting only in the early 90s. Another name for skyfish are "rods." Allegedly, skyfish are rod-shaped animals that flit around in the air so fast that we cannot see them. One of the only ways to observe them are to use video cameras, which take snapshots that reveal the skyfish when human eyes cannot. Most skyfish reports come from Japan or the United States.
On camera, skyfish appear as rods with undulating fins on either side, much like the fins of the cuttlefish. Sometimes they are called visitors from another dimension. In Japan, there are even people who say they can catch skyfish with nets.
The idea of skyfish taps into occasional reports throughout the last century of "atmospheric beasts," animals that live in the sky but cannot be seen, because of an ephemeral body type (like jellyfish), dwelling at high altitudes, or for some other reason. Some have said that "star jelly," a gelatinous material often found on the ground near the location of meteorite falls, may be related to atmospheric beasts.
Skyfish have been featured on TV specials, in tabloids, and even in video games. Are there really rod-shaped skyfish that move so quickly through the air that they cannot be seen? An analysis of human vision tells us that a skyfish would need to move between 100 and 500 mph to be invisible to the human eye - depending on its length and opacity. No bird or insect flies at this rate for extended periods of time, though some birds, such as the Peregrine falcon, do reach speeds of 240 mph on steep dives.
Unfortunately for enthusiasts, skyfish were proven to be fake sometime around 2003. The vast majority of skyfish evidence comes from video footage. Video cameras pick up images at a rate of about 50 frames per second. Many insects beat their wings and travel so quickly that a single frame captures a blur of several wing beats and the path of the bug. This is the skyfish — a motion-blurred image of a flying insect. Investigators have found that "skyfish" images can be reproduced arbitrarily using the appropriate lighting, location, and subject.
By Michael Anissimov