Why the mudskipper is called the jumping champion

In the high-tide zone along China's coast or in the brackish mudflats of estuaries, there lives a small fish only a few dozen millimeters long, with a large, squarish head; protruding eyes that can rotate; a muscular stalk at the base of the pectoral fins that can serve as an organ for supporting and crawling on land; and left and right pelvic fins fused into a suction cup.

The mudskipper has a habit of leaving the water to feed. Whenever the tide goes out, it often relies on the muscular stalks of its pectoral fins to crawl and hop over the mudflats in search of food, or climbs onto rocks and mangrove thickets to prey on insects, or climbs onto stones to bask in the sun.

When it comes out of the water, its well-developed gill chambers fill with air, and it dips its tail into the water as an aid to breathing.

Living out of water has become an important habit for it. It can move about as actively on land as a @#@260@#@, and the muscular stalks of its pectoral fins can move freely back and forth, serving the function of the forelimbs of a reptile.

To strengthen its crawling ability on land, its anal fin has become very low, and the fin rays of the lower lobe of its caudal fin have become thicker. When moving on the mudflats it has a regular gait, and each step must coordinate with the forward movement of the pectoral fins; that is, it first plants its pectoral fins on the ground, then drags its body forward, and the gait repeats very quickly. When the pectoral fins move forward, the pelvic fins serve to support the body.

When it makes short-distance hops, it relies only on the movement of its pectoral fins; but when making jumps of more than one meter, it must supplement this by striking the ground with its tail. Only when it is agitated or startled does it make long-distance jumps. Whenever the tide goes out, you can see mudskippers on the mudflats jumping about, playing and chasing one another.

The mudskipper's vision is very keen, and at the slightest disturbance it quickly jumps back into the water or burrows into a hole or a crevice in the rocks.