You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

These burrowing fish that live in intertidal zones not only feel right at home on land, but they can actually die if they spend too much time underwater. Mudskippers get their name from their ability to jump or skip from one tide pool to the next, and they propel themselves with the help of an unusual jointed pectoral fin that looks and functions much like a leg. Probably the most commonly encountered amphibious fish, mudskippers make up more than 20 species found in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions around the globe.

[Lee Stewart]

Highly prized as a food fish throughout Asia, where they often inhabit the same brackish, poorly oxygenated waters as snakeheads, the climbing perch is a fish that can walk on land for several hundred meters. The fish’s name derives from its rumored ability to climb trees—a legend for sure. It can remain out of water for six to 10 hours by using a maze-like breathing organ called a labyrinth to extract oxygen from the air, and it has been known to survive even longer by burying itself in mud to stay moist. In Australia, where climbing perch are thought to have been introduced by fishing boats, the fish are considered an invasive species. Surprisingly, that classification is due to their status as prey, not predator. The 10-inch perch’s ability to flex their spiny fins when swallowed has led to the choking deaths of native Australian birds.

[Lee Stewart]

Another nonnative invasive species that’s taken up residence in Florida, walking catfish are a Southeast Asian fish first reported in Broward County in 1967. They’ve spread throughout south and central Florida and are now commonly found in canals, ponds, and Walmart parking lots. They can cover ¾ of a mile on land and survive 18 hours out of water, and their ability to colonize new territory is greatly aided by their ability to walk on land and use storm drains to move around during periods of high stormwater runoff. Initially thought to pose a dire threat to native species, walking catfish—which can grow to 20 inches and three pounds—have proven to be more of a nuisance than a serious threat, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It’s still against state law to transport live walking catfish, so anglers who want to eat them are advised to immediately put them on ice. The species’ extreme sensitivity to cold weather may be the single biggest factor limiting their spread.

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

Horseshoe Crabs aren't crabs at all. They have more in common with spiders than they do with crabs. They were here long before the dinosaurs appeared but due to their unique blue blood, they many not be here in the near future.

Because the pharmaceutical industry exploits their precious blue blood. Their sky-blue blood contains amoebocytes, which react to toxic substances and can thus be used for the so-called horseshoe crab amoebocyte lysate test. This test is necessary for the marketing authorization of medicines and vaccines. Hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs die each year for this reason.