By Amanda Durry  March 12 2010

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Well it's easy to see it's not; but it's definitely a fish.

But as to what sort of fish it might be, well it's anyone's guess.

The flying fish was captured by Guardian photographer Kirsty Graham during a weekend dragon boat event and has since been a hot topic among fisherman and the wider community.

Three out of four people spoken to by the Guardian believe the fish is a grass carp and one believes it is a perch.

Fish and Game Officer Mark Webb said the absence of the adipose fin suggests it is not a trout or salmon.

"I'm pretty sure it's a grass carp and it's a great shot. My guess is the fish would be at least 5kg given that it has jumped in the background behind the boat and not between the camera and the boat.

"This makes it an even bigger fish than first impressions," he said.

A local fisherman also agreed on the carp theory, saying grass carp were known to jump out of the water when boats passed by.

Mid Canterbury Anglers Club member Wayne Watson showed a few people around his workplace and the consensus was that it is a grass carp.

"You do see fish leaping out of water at times when feeding on flying insects and also when playing, particularly when water is choppy.

"Lake Hood was well known for big fish in earlier days but I haven't heard of many big ones being caught lately and I would only be guessing at how big this one is," he said.

Ashburton Aquatic Park Charitable Trust chairman David West was the only one to break the trend, believing the flying fish was a perch.

"We always joked about having a tourist attraction called swimming with the carp but carp don't look like that – I think it's a perch.

"All sorts of fish get caught out there and there's always fishermen coming back.

"Two thousand carp were released a few years ago and 400 more in 2008 so there are a lot in there but not that many for the area of the lake.

"About 3000 salmon were put in there a couple of years ago so who knows, maybe they're quite spiritual fish and only come out when the dragon boats are around," he said.