Los Angeles ? Take a flying fish out of water, and it will glide like a bird.

That’s the word from two Korean scientists who decided to test the fish’s performance in a wind tunnel.

Their findings — the fruit of what they say is the first direct investigation of flying fish aerodynamics — showed that the fish could stay airborne just as well as small to midsize birds.

The news was published online Thursday evening in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Flying fish are equipped with winglike fins that they keep close to the body as they swim but spread out when they launch into the air, usually in attempts to escape predators. The fish stay aloft by periodically dipping their tail fins in the water and propelling themselves onward, rather like stones skipping across water.