Thursday, May 16, 2013

Fish Out of Water


The little stream continued to battle with the Andaman Sea. High tide pushed water into the stream every time a big jolly wave lashed at the shore. And when a gentle wave followed suit, the stream melted into the sea. I walked along the stream to look for its source when I saw them. Mudskippers. They were everywhere. Brown. Speckled. Some golden. Small and big. Everywhere! Dozens of them waddled at the edge of the stream lazily, leaping away when I stopped to observe them. While some stayed at the top edge of the water with just their eyes popping out, others stuck to the bottom of the stream. The source turned out to be a small pond, with more denizens - Hermit Crabs, tadpoles and plenty of little fish. I found the driest spot by the edge of the water and settled down to observe and photograph them, up close.

Mudskippers are fish out of water, literally.They are completely amphibious fish and belong to one of the largest families of fish, Gobiidae. They have the ability to breathe through their skin and also the lining of their mouth. This means that they have to keep their skin moist at all times and that factor limits their habitat to humid and swampy areas. Mudskippers have an enlarged gill chamber which functions like an oxygen cylinder by preserving a bubble of air, helping them breathe while they are out of water. This helps them survive and adapt well to intertidal zones and mangroves.


While I sat there, taking in their looks and behavior, they approached me slowly, one skip at a time. A few were just an inch away from me. They were unbelievably curious and bold, staring at me with those big, bulging eyes. And, no, I am not imagining things, they really do stare, hard. Very aware of their close proximity to me, I slowly moved my arm to adjust camera settings and as things turned out, they didn't like that at all. They all leaped away in an instant. Skip up close, stare, jump away at the smallest movement. Repeat. The first few times this happened, an eerie, unsettling memory those little green Compsognathus dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park movie series crept into my head. Dismissing vacuous thoughts of mutant Mudskippers, I went back to work.


Mudskippers use their pectoral fins to walk on land, in a type of motion that resembles skipping. They use these fins to propel themselves ahead, to hop or jump. In all fish, pectoral fins occur in a pair, and function as forelimbs. And in a highly developed state, these fins enable some species to do very specific actions - they help Flying Fish in their flight and Mudskippers in their walking motion.  Male Mudskippers use their dorsal fins for displays during the breeding season and for solving tiffs.


Mudskippers spend a considerable amount of time outside water, on and in the mud. Their social interactions happen outside of water - mating displays, territorial fights, feeding, etc. While I mostly saw them just lazing around, there were a few of them here and there, fighting and feeding. Mudskippers mainly feed on insects, tiny organisms in the mud and small crustaceans. They dig deep burrows into the mud and stay in there at high tide, to avoid predators. They also lay their eggs in these burrows and the males diligently take care of their eggs by bringing mouthfuls of oxygen from the surface till they hatch.



However, the one memory of Mudskippers that will stay with me are those huge, bulbous, protuberant eyes on the top of their blunt heads. And when they sit around staring at you up close, its hard not to notice those fabulous colors -Turquoise, Yellow, Green, Red, Ochre, Black, Gold.



Their eyes are close set and movable. They pull either one or both their eyes into their heads and push them out in a brisk motion, as fast as one can bat their eyelids. It was fascinating to watch their eyes and the things they could do with them!


At some point around then I realized that I had lost track of time. My watch told me I had been there, watching these little guys, for almost two hours. But, they were not done with staring at me yet and I wasn't going to be bored anytime soon. Yet, the relentless heat and humidity on the island took a toll on me. All I craved for was to go sit in the sea, with only my head popping out, just like my new found friends. I bid adieu, thanking them for sharing their noon with me, and so graciously allowing me a peek into their peaceful lives.



30 comments:

  1. Really enjoyed this one, Radha. Their eyes are gorgeous! Looking forward to stories and images of all the other amazing critters you observed in Andamans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Raji :) Will put up more of those soon..

      Delete
  2. beautiful shots. beautifully written. since i wont go there to disturb them, i ll enjoy them here

    ReplyDelete
  3. Loved the story and the delicate pictures. And their eyes remind me of paua shells!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Suchi :)
      You are right, they do look like paua shells!

      Delete
  4. Lovely account, with very good photos too! Missing you all very much here...

    Deepa.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very nice write-up accompanied with lovely pics Radha. I used to watch these mud-skippers at Galibore a lot.

    Cheers,
    Alexis

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Alexis :)
      I too had only seen them at Galibore before..

      Delete
  6. Loved reading this and your beautiful pics, Radha! The mudskippers are so cute!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very well written and so much info about them. Never seen them before and now curious to meet them...
    thanks for bringing them out for us. The photograph showing the opening and closing of eyes is going to stay with me forever.... Thanks

    ~Samyak.

    ReplyDelete
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  9. Your blog posting and picture selection its nice and wonderful

    ReplyDelete
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  11. ESTIMADOS HERMANOS:
    Solicito el indulto definitivo a todos los implicados criminales del caso Colmenares de Colombia y del caso Siekavizza de Guatemala como tambien del caso Rosenberg de Guatemala porque las bandas de secuestradores pueden realizar una supervision previal a los pueblos de su raza étnica por el veredicto del sindicado para evitar a los secuestros clandestinos así como tambien mis secuestradores que desean traicionarme han sido disuadidos por la mayoría de sus camaradas porque la mayoría de los tales desean que gobierne equitativamente a mis clanes aborigenes por mis encarnaciones divinas de los Dioses paganos y cristianos como tambien extraterrestres del cosmos. La minoría peligrosa desea rescatar a mis calumniadores de la conversion a zombies obedientes a mi causa gubernamental del anticristo cristiano por los fieros de Villa Nueva de mi nacion Guatemala.
    Tambien los secuestradores pueden realizarme una supervision previal con mis clanes aborigenes que lidereo mundialmente como tambien nacionalmente de mi país Guatemala para indultarme de cualquier intruso antagonista con una contribucion popular de 1,000 quetzales en moneda nacional de Guatemala por cada clan étnico mientras que yo únicamente tendré un beneficio simbólico de 20 quetzales para mi almuerzo donde tal supervision previal deberá efectuarse periódicamente para absolverme de mis intrusos.

    Atentamente:
    Jorge Vinicio Santos Gonzalez,
    Documento de identificacion personal:
    1999-01058-0101 Guatemala,
    Cédula de Vecindad:
    ORDEN: A-1, REGISTRO: 825,466,
    Ciudadano de Guatemala de la América Central.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ESTIMADOS HERMANOS:
    Solicito el indulto definitivo a todos los implicados criminales del caso Colmenares de Colombia y del caso Siekavizza de Guatemala como tambien del caso Rosenberg de Guatemala porque las bandas de secuestradores pueden realizar una supervision previal a los pueblos de su raza étnica por el veredicto del sindicado para evitar a los secuestros clandestinos así como tambien mis secuestradores que desean traicionarme han sido disuadidos por la mayoría de sus camaradas porque la mayoría de los tales desean que gobierne equitativamente a mis clanes aborigenes por mis encarnaciones divinas de los Dioses paganos y cristianos como tambien extraterrestres del cosmos. La minoría peligrosa desea rescatar a mis calumniadores de la conversion a zombies obedientes a mi causa gubernamental del anticristo cristiano por los fieros de Villa Nueva de mi nacion Guatemala.
    Tambien los secuestradores pueden realizarme una supervision previal con mis clanes aborigenes que lidereo mundialmente como tambien nacionalmente de mi país Guatemala para indultarme de cualquier intruso antagonista con una contribucion popular de 1,000 quetzales en moneda nacional de Guatemala por cada clan étnico mientras que yo únicamente tendré un beneficio simbólico de 20 quetzales para mi almuerzo donde tal supervision previal deberá efectuarse periódicamente para absolverme de mis intrusos.

    Atentamente:
    Jorge Vinicio Santos Gonzalez,
    Documento de identificacion personal:
    1999-01058-0101 Guatemala,
    Cédula de Vecindad:
    ORDEN: A-1, REGISTRO: 825,466,
    Ciudadano de Guatemala de la América Central.

    ReplyDelete
  13. ... it was an accident that I came across this post ... beautiful ! ... loved it, as well your images ... amazing to see a mudskipper feeding on the red insect ... I have come across mudskippers in a variety of locales and now try to follow them locally in Mumbai ... you will be able to see our work on www.TheUntamedEarth.com :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. ... it was an accident that I came across this post ... beautiful ! ... loved it, as well your images ... amazing to see a mudskipper feeding on the red insect ... I have come across mudskippers in a variety of locales and now try to follow them locally in Mumbai ... you will be able to see our work on www.TheUntamedEarth.com :)

    ReplyDelete
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