THE MUDSKIPPER
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009Mudskippers are goggle-eyed, four-inch-long fish that infest the swamps and mangroves of Southeast Asia. So plentiful are they that a visiting scientist asked a villager why he did not catch them for food. Mudskippers spend more than half their life on land, hauling themselves along with their forefins. The fins have suckers at the end; using these to grip the bark, a mudskipper has no problem climbing a tree. Before climbing onto land, the fish fills its gill chambers with air and water. With its gills moist and aerated, the versatile mudskipper can spend hours out of water at a time.