The flying fish is the embodiment of ideal and desire, it is a metaphor of the pursuit of happiness and freedom  in the shape of a ribbed structure. Its biformity symbolizes the very nature of the unreachable: one tries to project it in shapes of the real world, to break it down into things that seem       recognizable and palpable, but any strive to find the pieces in the body of the dreamlike creature is futile.
Some tell of how  they can see it oftentimes floating west at dusk, others  say it is in fact hovering over water, almost flying, and they can all describe its shape with great detail. So people, with a clear picture of the animal in mind, spend a great deal of their existence trying to get a glimpse of the creature or even to catch it, never acknowledging their perceptible surroundings and never stopping to consider whether a trapped flying fish would make their world better.