Peace as Nature: Mudskipper Is A Fish Out of Water

Nature is the greatest teacher of peace as all life adapts to the whole system. The creativity of wildlife is infinite and helps you to see you are not the creator but indeed the observer of nature. Share with me the fascination of this natural world which helps us to understand we share a planet of interconnections and interdependencies. Finding balance is the key to survival.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudskipper

Mudskippers are members of the subfamily Oxudercinae (tribe Periophthalmini),[1] within the family Gobiidae (Gobies). They are completely amphibious fish, fish that can use their pectoral fins to walk on land.[2][3] Being amphibious, they are uniquely adapted to intertidal habitats, unlike most fish in such habitats which survive the retreat of the tide by hiding under wet seaweed or in tidal pools.[4]

Mudskippers are quite active when out of water, feeding and interacting with one another, for example to defend their territories. They are found in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions, including the Indo-Pacific and the Atlantic coast of Africa.

Adaptations
Periophthalmus gracilis (from Malaysia to North Australia)
Schlammspringer Periophthalmus sp.jpg

Compared with fully aquatic gobies, these fish present a range of peculiar behavioural and physiological adaptations to an amphibious lifestyle. These include:

Anatomical and behavioural adaptations that allow them to move effectively on land as well as in the water.[3] As their name implies, these fish use their fins to move around in a series of skips. They can also flip their muscular body to catapult themselves up to 2 feet (60 cm) into the air.[5]

“ The mudskipper pectoral fin differs from most actinopterygian fishes in that the radials of the mudskipper pectoral fin are elongate and protrude from the body wall. This unusual morphology creates a pectoral fin with two fin segments (the radials and the rays) and two movable hinge joints: a `shoulder’ joint where the cleithrum meets the radials and a `intra-fin’ joint where the radials meet the rays (Harris, 1959). In addition, […] the abductor superficialis muscle of the pectoral fin is divided into two sections (rather than being a single muscle, as is common with the rest of the Oxudercinae gobies) with one section inserting on the dorsal rays and the other section inserting on the ventral rays (Murdy, 1989). ”

—The Journal of Experimental Biology, [6]

The ability to breathe through their skin and the lining of their mouth (the mucosa) and throat (the pharynx). This is only possible when the mudskipper is wet, limiting mudskippers to humid habitats and requiring that they keep themselves moist. This mode of breathing, similar to that employed by amphibians, is known as cutaneous air breathing.[4] Another important adaptation that aids breathing while out of water are their enlarged gill chambers, where they retain a bubble of air. These large gill chambers close tightly when the fish is above water, keeping the gills moist, and allowing them to function. They act like a scuba diver’s cylinders, and supply oxygen for respiration also while on land.[4]

Digging deep burrows in soft sediments allow the fish to thermoregulate,[7] avoid marine predators during the high tide when the fish and burrow are submerged,[8] and for laying their eggs.[9]

Even when their burrow is submerged, mudskippers maintain an air pocket inside it, which allows them to breathe in conditions of very low oxygen concentration.[10][11][12]

Mohandas Gandhi

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

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