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Just a mudskipper. No Gilligan, Mary Ann, Ginger, Professor... morgueFile/dantada |
You can jump over and finish reading "Mudskippers — Marvels of the Mud Flats", and then watch the video below.If you have ever seen a wildlife documentary on tropical mangrove swamps, you will likely have observed mudskippers at work and play. These unusual fish, about 15 cm (6 in) long, are a type of goby. Swimming in water, they seem no more remarkable than other fish. However, once the tide goes out to expose the mudflats, it’s a different matter altogether.Comedians among fishes
Mudskipper antics on land are certainly amusing to watch. To move along, a mudskipper will slump forwards by doing ‘press-ups’ with its pectoral fins, a type of locomotion called ‘crutching’. When two male mudskippers dispute territory, they press up on their pectorals with mouths agape, making sideways head-swipes at each other. This comical sight was amusingly captured on acclaimed wildlife TV series, Life. Most dramatically of all, a mudskipper may try to attract the attention of a mate by an impressive leap into the air, followed by an ungainly landing!A creationist’s worst nightmare?
A fish that spends more of its life on land than in the water and ‘walks’ (after a fashion) on its pectoral fins is certainly an oddity. Some evolutionists have pounced on the mudskipper as allegedly providing evidence against biblical creation. On a well known anti-creationist website, one blogger gleefully responded to a picture of two Indonesian mudskippers with the comment: “Oh no! The creationists’ worst nightmare: a walking fish!”Contrary to these confident claims, this unique and fascinating amphibious fish is in no way troublesome to those who view Genesis 1–11 as literal history.
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