One of the many delights of working with Sewanee’s students is the biodiversity that they bring to my desktop. Sometimes, these species arrive on my actual desktop (snails, leaves, dead coots, live hummingbirds, and so forth…), but species also arrive via the glow of the screen. Here is one such arrival. I’m posting it for no other reason than the smile it brought to my face. Thank you, Dr. Bert Harris (Sewanee class of 2006 — a great vintage), for sharing this after a recent research trip to Sumatra. Without further ado, the blue-spotted mudskipper:
These air-breathing fish live in the mud flats of Asia. Males come out of their burrows to joust each other and to perform leaping dances for females. You can read more about their biology here and here.
What these websites will not explain is why they make me slightly nervous: I get the sense that they are ready to step in and take over when the current gaggle of tetrapods finally gives up the ghost. Give these mud-skippers three hundred million years and they’ll be strutting around with sapiens after their names. So this New Year, let’s look sharp and keep focused. We have competition.
Addendum: Thank you to Karen C. Rio for pointing me to this video of the mudskippers in action :)
David George Haskell 
Delightful! And, I had the same thought when I saw these…they look ready to take the next step and grow some legs!
…and they have a beady look in their eyes.
I am smiling as well, thank you! I found a great video on the Discovery site that shows the Blue-Spotted Mudskipper in action:
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/life/videos/mudskippers-mud-wrestle.htm
Wow — that is a great video. I love it. I’ll post the link on the main page so more people can see it. Thank you for sharing this!
terrific!… great image.. spell-binding…experiencing the evolutionary process up close and dramatic.
Yes! Easy to see how these guys could perhaps edge into a more terrestrial existence over time.
Those gaping maws seem well formed for telling each other off, but only if selective pressure leads to the development of vocal chords. And my, that video was splendid!
Maybe they’ll be smart enough to skip the whole “bending your ear” development?
I’ve learned — and seen — the most intriguing things on this blog. It’s brilliant. Thanks.
Thank you Kat! Happy New Year!