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Mudskippers are any of the 23 extant species of amphibious fish from the subfamily Oxudercinae of the goby family Oxudercidae. [2] They are known for their unusual body shapes, preferences for semiaquatic habitats, limited terrestrial locomotion and jumping, and the ability to survive prolonged periods of time both in and out of water.
Mudskippers are found in mangrove swamps in Africa and the Indo-Pacific; they frequently come onto land, and can survive in air for up to 3-1/2 days. [5] Mudskippers breathe through their skin and through the lining of the mouth (the mucosa) and throat (the pharynx). This requires the mudskipper to be wet, limiting them to humid habitats.
Mudskippers breathe by absorbing oxygen across the skin (similar to frogs). A number of fish have evolved so-called accessory breathing organs that extract oxygen from the air. Labyrinth fish (such as gouramis and bettas) have a labyrinth organ above the gills that performs this function.
Side view of the Atlantic mudskipper propped up on land using pectoral fins. The Atlantic mudskipper can grow up to 16 cm in length. [6] The body is covered with scales, coated with a mucus layer that helps to retain moisture. [6] The Atlantic mudskippers have more than 90 scales along the side of their body. [3]
Periophthalmus gracilis, a species of mudskipper, perched on land. Mudskippers are one type of walking fish. A walking fish, or ambulatory fish, is a fish that is able to travel over land for extended periods of time. Some other modes of non-standard fish locomotion include "walking" along the sea floor, for example, in handfish or frogfish.
Boleophthalmus pectinirostris, commonly known as the great blue spotted mudskipper, is a species of mudskipper native to the north-western Pacific Ocean. It can be found on the coastlines of Japan , eastern China , Sumatra , Malaysia , Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula .
All chordates, such as vertebrates, eel-like lancelets, and tunicates, or sea squirts, at some point in their lives have a flexible, rod-shaped nerve structure called a notochord in their backs. A ...
Similarly to other mudskippers, B. boddarti has moist skin with capillaries near the surface in dermal bulges that allow it to perform cutaneous respiration, although it has been observed to have less mucus-secreting cells than more terrestrial species of mudskipper such as Periophthalmus variabilis, on account of it living primarily in aquatic ...