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Posted by Douglas DuHamel Jan 25, 2008 |
At one time fish lived in water, but now there seems to be some adaptations that are now allowing fish to live out of water for months at a time in Central American and Southern USA mangrove swamps.
The Mangrove Rivulus is a small species of Killifish. It will fish seek refuge wherever there’s a sign of water even in old beer cans, crab burrows, coconut shells! These fish grow up to three inches in length and when their habitat dries up, they live on land in logs that have been hollowed out by insects. They breathe air through their skin and not their gills until they can find water again according to a study by Scot Taylor; a researcher at Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program in central Florida.
This breakthrough came after a trip to Belize where Scot Taylor and his research team kicked over a log and Killifish tumbled out. It was discovered that these Killifish can live 66 days out of water without eating and their metabolism keeps functioning.
Scot Taylor will be publishing his entire study in the American Naturalist Journal in early 2009 if you’re interested in reading about the whole project.
We have the Walking Catfish that can live out of water for periods of time. The different type of lung fish found around the world can live out of water but only in their dormant state.
Other types of other Killifish can’t survive out of water without dying but their eggs can survive if there’s just a trace of moisture anywhere near them. So is evolution starting back at the beginning of time and now we will have to share our land areas with fish. I say it’s starting to look that way.