Tuesday

Fish That Breath Air, Walk, And Climb Trees

There are numerous creatures specially designed to live in mangroves: special crabs which act like vacuum cleaners, colorful insects, and fish, like the Mudskipper, which live in and out of water. (I described mangroves a few days ago here)

The Mudskipper is a very strange fish indeed. People usually notice the periscope-like eyes first. A Mudskipper can see above the surface of the water while most of its body is submerged. Each eye moves independently of the other, and this movement helps with breathing on land.

Mudskippers rotate their eyes inside the socket to keep their eyes moist. But this rotation also circulates the water contained in its gill chamber just behind the eye, and the circulation oxygenates the gills. Unlike most other fish, a Mudskipper can seal its gill chamber to retain water for oxygenating its gills while visiting on land. This is one way it breaths out of the water. Some mangrove crabs also oxygenate their gills by circulating trapped water. A Mudskipper will drown if left in water, and suffocate if left out of water too long. God made it just for tidal regions.

Mudskippers also breath air through their skin. In fact this is where they get most of their oxygen! Their skin is specially designed with mucus cells and ridges to trap oxygen and transfer it to blood vessels next to the skin. It also has special cells at the back of its mouth to absorb oxygen.

It is also designed with arm–like fins and a sucker that enable it to climb trees, and crawl on land. These are complex systems designed by an amazing Creator.

No comments:

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails