Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Wednesday 26 August 2015

Thinking, thinking, thinking,...

One evening last week the skinny one was indulging himself by playing St Vitus Dance with the remote control (a habit I loathe).

He briefly landed on a program about mud-skippers, and I have been thinking about it ever since.

Mudskippers are amphibious fish, and this link will tell you a little more about them, with pictures.  In the snippet I saw, the fish came out of the water at low tide, and using their flippers walked across the mud to feed.  At the first hint of danger, they dived back into the water.

I assume their amphibious nature is an expression of their path down the evolutionary trail.  But are they fish who are going to develop into land dwellers, or are they going back to the sea?
What will their final form look like?
And will the world last long enough for it to be realised?

It is crowded in my head, and there are some strange pathways to wander down...

152 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Blogoratti: No great thoughts here. Weird wanderings...

      Delete
  2. And I have read great apes are entering the stone age. What a fascinating world we live in, where all these "loose" ends can be so conveniently shared, electronically. More things to think about.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne Noragon: When I read of meditation techniques which start with 'clear your mind' I know I am doomed to fail. There are so many things to think about. Big and small. And I am so grateful to have so much at my fingertips...

      Delete
  3. I think they fill their own niche and will remain mudskippers. Like the salmon that crosses land. (Which is also really weird to watch.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alex J. Cavanaugh: I am going to agree to disagree here. I don't think much (if anything) remains static. And niches can become too small as things grow...
      I would love to see land crossing salmon. I will explore that in a bit.

      Delete
  4. I know nothing about them, but since you provided a link I guess I'll know more soon. You do sound like you are traveling down some strange pathways in your mind. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DJan: Most of the pathways, the highways and the byways in my mind are strange.

      Delete
  5. They started off as dinosaurs.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lee: Perhaps. And what will they become...

      Delete
    2. It's as clear as mud, EC...skippers with the smoothest skin!

      Delete
    3. Lee: Hmm. Seems lacking in ambition to me.

      Delete
  6. I read the answer is in the mud! I had to Google these adorable, ingenious creatures, thank you for bringing them to light. Imagine that, the male is very important for the survival of mudskipper eggs as well. Here's a short but highly interesting link about them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KurTiX4FDuQ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karen S.: They are fascinating aren't they? And I always like to learn about species where the male has a role other than procreation. Sadly the BBC won't allow me to watch that link - for copyright reasons.

      Delete
    2. Oh that's too bad, it's really interesting, but then you watched the show which was interesting too. I thank you for bringing them to my attention too. It would be quite fascinating to watch them live!

      Delete
    3. Karen S.: I only saw a snippet of the show - and wish I had seen more. I agree, it would be wonderful to see them live, and two bloggers (Margaret Adamson and Jesusan) have. I am a touch envious.

      Delete
  7. Never knew about these....interesting. Ah, that thinking gets me into a lot of trouble! Be careful, ha-ha.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bookie: So much to learn, so little time. Teamed with so many books, so little time it is a wonder I get anything done. And thinking has got me into trouble before too. As has not thinking.

      Delete
  8. I love mud skippers! Such weird creatures. I think they're trying to get back to the ocean.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Madilyn Quinn: I liked that thought too. Rather a lot. Why should evolution be a one-way street.

      Delete
  9. You are a true naturalist when you can make room in your crowded brain for such as the Mudskippers. They are very interesting creatures, for sure, and as ugly as they come ... good that we have evolved beyound that. But yes, one has to wonder where they are headed on the evolutionary table ... given that man is hell bent on self distructing, maybe they are the next in line ... like you said, food for thought.

    Andrea @ From The Sol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrea Priebe: Curiosity is one of my strongest defining characteristics. About a very wide range of things. And I share your worry about our part in the world...

      Delete
  10. If this is their final version, they must be pretty disappointed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marty Damon: Or quite pleased with themselves for achieving the best of both worlds?

      Delete
    2. Ah Sue, just what I was going to say! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder too *laughs*. They are fascinating creatures, and I too like the idea they may be keen to head back to the sea. Get me some gills and I'll join them I can tell you.

      Delete
    3. All Consuming: Some days I would head back to the sea in a heart-beat. Nice to know I would have company.

      Delete
  11. I am curious about EVERYTHING & my mind has become a virtual storehouse of useless information!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. fishducky: I am also curious about everything. I wish my brain would retain what I find better though. Except that it gives me the fun of discovery time and time again.

      Delete
  12. I've seen them in a doco too, so interesting.
    Men and remotes!!! Grr.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. librarygirl: The remote thing sends me (more) crazy. Choose a program and watch it. Or turn the bloody thing off.
      The mudskippers were intrigueing though - and I would have liked to have seen more.

      Delete
  13. Oh, Mudskippers, tell me what your secret is?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh to live in two worlds they have got it all covered.
    Merle...........

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dear EC
    Mudskippers are obviously extremely adaptable, to be what they are and to manage to survive, despite man's best efforts to ruin the planet...
    Best wishes
    Ellie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ellie Foster: They are aren't they? Unobtrusive masters of adaptability.

      Delete
  16. Interesting fish, one I hadn't thought about in years, probably since school.
    As to their final evolved appearance, think about people you might have seen and straightaway thought, he looks like a fish. Then there are fish that have almost human faces, I saw some in the tank at AQWA. I'll see if I can find a photo, I'm sure I took one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. River: You have my mind going down yet another path now. Fish-faced is not considered a compliment - yet so many fish are very, very beautiful.

      Delete
  17. Sounds like they have adapted to avoid predation and to find food. Maybe they are not headed anywhere at all, back to total aquatics, nor to total land habitation, as they have the best of both worlds and can exploit both habitats well. I love their "land diving apparatus" in that they harbor a bubble in their gills, to help them keep moist and get oxygen, while their gills are sealed on land, like a reverse scuba diver.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Strayer: Reverse scuba diver is a perfect description. And I wonder why they have evolved to get the best of both worlds and other species haven't. I am usually a detail person, but this is one of the areas where I would love to be able to see the big picture...

      Delete
  18. Hi EC. Amazing what you see on TV during random acts of flipping. I'd never heard of these fish, but don't you just love it when you learn something new by meeting a new creature (to us) on the planet. Now I must do some googling...:-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Denise Covey: I learn things every day. Which is a combination of my own ignorance and of just how much there is to learn. The first is a work in progress and the second is wonderful. And exciting.

      Delete
  19. You are not alone! Love those ponderings :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HBF: Isn't it nice to know that others spend their days wondering too?

      Delete
  20. Got to say, I would be totally freaked to be walking along the shore and see one sliding? slithering? crawling? toward me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sandra Cox: They use their flippers to 'walk'. A bit jerky, but no stranger than a crab. I suspect I would be fascinated to see them. Awed and fascinated.

      Delete
    2. I would be awed and fascinated from a distance.

      Delete
    3. Sandra Cox: No problems with that approach. It is how I feel about snakes. I need a considerable distance to appreciate them.

      Delete
  21. I've often thought similarly about axolotls.
    Lets hope humans won't be able to impede their evolution - if that's what's in store for them.

    Re: River's comment - Google images of "blob fish" and "humanoid carp".
    Genuinely fascinating and creepy at the same time :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vicki: Blob fish and humanoid carp are NOT what I had in mind when I thought about the beauty of fish. We don't improve the species.
      I really wish that the only evolution we could have any impact on was our own.

      Delete
  22. I love hearing and seeing brains at work. Much food for thought here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. e: I suspect my brain is a bit too flibberty-gibbert to 'work'. It plays a lot though. And I do love seeing where other people's minds take them.

      Delete
  23. and humans can have these same thought pathways are we going forward or backward

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda Starr: I know not. Despite our protestations of superiority I have my doubts.

      Delete
  24. And I see mudpuppies, mud dogs, giant mud dogs and geoducks and wonder at Mother Nature's sense of humour.

    Oh! Speaking of curiosity and evolution: Have you seen the articles about the great apes and speech? The famous Koko is once again broadening our view of what is possible: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/18/how-a-coughing-ape-is-changing-our-ideas-about-animals-humans-and-language/

    Evolution has not stopped, nor even slowed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jacquelineand...: If evolution were to stop, the end would be very, very close.
      And I loved reading that Koko is yet more proof than we are not as different (or as superior) as we like to think.

      Delete
  25. After reading the Wikipedia link, in some ways they seem highly evolved with their ability to survive in and out of water and perhaps that is just how they will stay, climate change notwithstanding.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrew: They do seem highly evolved - but evolution isn't static. Slow, but definitely moving.

      Delete
  26. I think this is where they're headed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael G D'Agostino: I hope not. I really, really hope not. Clever though.

      Delete
  27. All that thought and you could have been reading a book. Next time you know exactly where to shove the remote and it's where no mudskipper will go.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JahTeh: Tempting. Very, very tempting. The constant channel changing drives me batty(ier).

      Delete
  28. Has anyone ever told you that you think too much? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KB: Of course they have. Are you going to add to their numbers?

      Delete
  29. Thank you for sharing.....I love scientific thoughts. It is so interesting to see things that are not necessarily brought to our attention every day! Keep on thinking....That is what gets us from day to day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sienna Smythe: I found even the snippet of that program fascinating. I wish I had seen more. There is so much in life that is amazing isn't there?

      Delete
  30. Hi EC - isn't evolution extraordinary ... they are a wonder of nature; but don't think about them lasting out the course of time, otherwise you'll be fantasising how humans will look in a billion years or so ... with another few billion years to live through life on earth before we are absorbed by the sun.

    I love all the different creatures around, and all the variants that are found as we learn more .. .cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hilary Melton-Butcher: I don't think I want to know what our species will look like in a billion years or so - assuming we last that long.
      And yes, evolution and nature ARE extraordinary. Moving slowly, but incredibly surely.

      Delete
  31. Hi Sue I saw these one time when I was out bird watching with a friend in Australia Fascinating to watch. Now I know you are not going to agree but Mudskippers always looked like that and will rremain that way. They NEVER were dinosaurs and will never be humans!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Adamson: I have no idea what Mudskippers ancient relatives looked like. And have no thought of them ever becoming human. When all is said and done, being amphibious already makes them more evolved than us in some way.

      Delete
  32. That is so weird and now you've got me to thinking. I can image these creatures being written into all sorts of stories and can you image the sci-fi movies staring these guys? Things can change fast sometimes, but I don't think we'll be around to see these guys final outcome.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mason Canyon: Nature out weirds sci-fi often. Quietly, but very, very successfully. And no, I don't think we will be around for the final chapter either.

      Delete
  33. You head down some interesting paths to me! Maybe they'll become the next group to evolve into humans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stephanie Faris: I hope not. I really hope not. It seems like a retrograde step to me.

      Delete
  34. I think you should unleash your imagination and write a story about their journey into... whichever which way they're going. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. River Fairchild: Do you know I think you are the first person to tell me to unleash the dogs of imagination. All my life people have told me to keep them muzzled. And chained.

      Delete
    2. I heard those same people all my life. They're now safely chained up in my basement. And muzzled.

      Delete
    3. River Fairchild: Good. Feed them gruel. Occasionally.

      Delete
  35. Interesting little creatures. And that fin on their back...very cool! They look a little sad, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mshatch: I suspect they are fairly low on the pecking order. And have reason to feel sad - and anxious.

      Delete
  36. I have heard of these creatures. Very interesting read..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. whiteangel: They are fascinating. Like so much of the natural world.

      Delete
  37. Mudskippers - we call them politicians in the U.S. They live in swampy water and come out every two or four years and try to make us think they walk on water.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe: Smiling, but I think you are being unfair to the Mudskippers who don't spew poison and crap.

      Delete
  38. Having encountered Mud Skippers in person, I'd have to say that they have the best of both worlds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jesusan: You have seen them? Wow. Jealous thoughts.

      Delete
  39. The strange pathways are my favorite journey!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  40. They are evolving and mankind is devolving.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Interesting. I've never heard of mudskippers. Seems they are trying to make it on the land, but inevitably default to the sea. It's safe there - fewer humans, more sea-life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rawknrobyn: Given the choice I think I would become a water dweller...

      Delete
  42. Fascinating fish. It makes me wonder how we will all evolve eventually. We are all connected.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DeniseinVA: I don't think I want to know how we will evolve. Fortunately I won't see it.

      Delete
  43. All valid questions. I think they will keep evolving into whatever they need to be to survive. If they don't, they won't. Will changes in the planet not be too abrupt for that? I don't know, but if I think about it for a while I'm liable to hurt both brain cells and get a headache.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jono: How nice to hear of someone else with two brain cells - which hurt when exercised.

      Delete
  44. Good thinking. Hope we keep this planet alive long enough for them to evolve naturally and for us to appreciate how fascinating they are.

    ReplyDelete
  45. How very interesting. I have to check out the link and it would be interesting to research them a bit to see what they were like 100 or two hundred years ago. Great questions- always good to be thinking. :)
    ~Jess

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DMS ~ Jess: Or what they were like 1000 years ago, or 10,000...

      Delete
  46. It is crowded in my head, and there are some strange pathways to wander down...

    What a wonderful
    Wonderful
    Sentence x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John Gray: Thank you. It is very, very true as well.

      Delete
  47. Hi human, Sue,

    They are going to grow wings and attempt to fly off this planet before it's too late. They will have specially adapted lung-gills so they can breathe in space as they seek out a new world.

    Pawsitive wishes and doggy kisses,

    Penny xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar!! So not just the best of both worlds, but the best of the universe as well. I wish them luck.

      Delete
  48. That is so WEIRD. And interesting pondering on your part...perhaps they're fully evolved, unlike us? ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Riot Kitty: I don't think anything is fully evolved. A work in progress. Just very, very slow progress. Like rather a lot of my projects.

      Delete
  49. Wow, that is truly fascinating! I saw a brief spot about them a couple years ago and they were definitely intriguing. They have an ingenious way of breathing too, in and out of water. It is a model of evolution...and as some above have said, I have to wonder if they are progressing slowly or have reached what they will become? Sadly, I'm afraid the greed of mankind for just doing whatever they please (not everyone of course, mainly politicians and big corporations) may cut their evolution short.

    Or just maybe, they'll have the last laugh (perhaps literally if they keep changing, ha).

    Fascinating subject!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1st Man: I am really pleased to hear that other people are as intrigued as I am. Sometimes I believe that our greed will cut everything's evolution short. I try not to dwell on it though.

      Delete
  50. Haha, EC... without reading any of the other comments, all I have to say is I'm impressed the Mudskippers have figured out they can do two things at once :)

    Also, I remember when I was a kid growing up in Dublin that Mudskippers were called "boy" or "Little Bollix"

    PS: I'm seriously grinning here... the more I think about it, I would have LOVED to be the leader of the MudSkippers... gawd, we would have caused so much (MORE!!) trouble :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mark Koopmans: I take it you are not going to tell your boys about Mudskippers. Or are you brave enough to take on the challenge if they decide that they could be the leader...

      Delete
  51. I've never seen one!! We have a new pet here, my son's first ever (a turtle) and I swear that little guy's got big personality. Who knew??? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mail4rosey: My brothers had a turtle when we were growing up. That turtle had a bigger (and nicer) personality than they did.

      Delete
  52. My husband plays with the remote like that, and I too find it irritating, but sometimes he does land on something interesting, and if he stays, I too learn something new! I'd seen these guys on the web, but so interesting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yolanda Renee: It seems to a largely gender related habit too. And my partner very rarely stays where he lands...

      Delete
  53. Another question to consider is "Are these a leftover species?" Evolution does not work in a single straight line, therefore it's easily possible that mudskippers were around previously and served as a keystone species for the evolution of something else. Mutations happened and another species developed but mudskippers were adapted enough to their situation that they didn't die off. Just something to consider.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Robert Bennett: You are right of course, but my brain cells don't thank you. More thinking to do...

      Delete
    2. Hahaha. Sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I'm genuinely plagued sometimes by my brain not shutting off. Oh the insomnia. ~_~

      Delete
    3. Robert Bennett: Insomnia lives here too. And I am also totally unable to shut my brain down. Distract it yes, close it down no.

      Delete
  54. As Yolanda wrote above, my husband also plays remote search. Even if I leave the room for only a few moments, he will use that time to check what is playing on other channels. When I return, he is interested in some other show, reluctant to return to the show we were watching. I dread retirement.

    Mudskippers? Clever to develop and maintain such skills.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan Kane: I don't have to leave the room. His fingers get clicking. And clicking. And clicking. Which often means I DO leave the room.
      I am endlessly fascinated and awed by nature. And mudskippers are a perfect example.

      Delete
  55. Mudskippers remind me of when we lived in Darwin and were exploring the mangroves. Being someone who is constantly fascinated by nature I picked one up and was promptly nibbled. Which also reminds me of the time I was bitten by a moth. Thank you for a trip down memory lane.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kim: My father told me that there was nothing which didn't bite sometimes, but a moth??? Only a flesh wound I assume...

      Delete
    2. Not even a flesh wound but it sure made me jump when I rescued it from a muddy puddle. I found out from a moth expert, after years of people thinking I was crazy, that it was a fruit eating moth. Your father was right!

      Delete
    3. Kim: He often was. Not perhaps as often as he believed, but he was right about a lot of things.

      Delete
  56. oh gosh, I love mudskippers and any animal that travels in the ways "between". Which way will they go? We know where we went! Which is why it is soooooo fascinating, I think, looking a history potentially repeating itself. Also humbling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raquel Somatra: So much of life is fascinating and humbling isn't it? Neither are bad things...

      Delete
  57. EC, it's an uncanny coincidence, but I've just recommended this link to Murr over on her blog, and come here to find that it's the first thing I thought of when I read your second-last sentence:
    http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/08/how-and-why-spacex-will-colonize-mars.html

    It's a long read, and is easier to digest if you read Parts I & II referenced in the link. I'd be one of the last people to support space exploration or development before I read this article, and now I wholeheartedly am in favour of it. Strong words, I know, but true.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. jenny_o: I will go over and check out the link when I have a little more time. Thank you. At the moment, before I read it, I am leaning towards opposing space exploration/development on the grounds that it seems like moving house because we have trashed our own. I wonder whether my perpective will change too.

      Delete
  58. I love that there are so many others to be found in the blogosphere whose minds are always churning and wondering. A lot of my friends think I'm a nutcase for wondering about so many things... and (gasp!) researching them!... when they're contented to shrug their shoulders and forget about them.

    As for the mudskippers, I wonder if they started as water creatures or as land creatures. It seems to me that their current state of being able to manage both environments would be an evolutionary thing to enhance their ability to survive, but on the other hand, look at birds. They can motivate both on land and in the air. Maybe the mudskipper's ability to motivate on land and in water is comparable, and an ability which has always been theirs. Fascinating stuff.

    Happy weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan: So many questions, so few answers. I hope I never give up asking, wondering, pondering, researching though...
      My first thought about the mudskippers was that they started in the water - as so many things did. But then I wondered whether I was just making assumptions. And think I was...

      Delete
  59. My head has been full of so much crapola lately..listening to too many politicians and too many newscasters lately. I suppose I have been stuck in this house too long with my recuperating husband. I have heard of walking fish, but I didn't know the name. Off to check out the link. Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Terri @ Coloring Outside the Lines: I hope you can find an escape from the crap and the crud. And that your husband's recuperation is going well.
      Take some time for yourself if you can. Even if you can't.

      Delete
  60. What an interesting fish, I have never seen it before. My mind gets to wandering way too much, hope yours calmed down by now lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kim @ Stuff could...: My mind wanders very happily. It is a great deal more reluctant to come home again.

      Delete
  61. **It is crowded in my head, and there are some strange pathways to wander down...**

    I like that! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My Inner Chick: Some very strange pathways. Hugs.

      Delete
  62. someone claimed to see a chinese snake head fish in one of our small city lakes and it was a national emergency. people imagined it reproducing and fish walking on land to other lakes. the lake was drained and they claimed to find the offending fish but also euthanized all the red eared slider turtles because they were considered an invasive species.

    it was a turtle holocaust that went internationally unnoticed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. billy pilgrim, knight of the woeful countenance: (Goodness, what a mouthful your title is). Sometimes I despair of people. Often I despair.

      Delete
  63. I see we both wonder as we wander through this life...fascinating fish!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Donna@LivingFromHappiness: The world is full of wonder. And all the best worlds are...

      Delete
  64. They are strange little creatures!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cloudia: They are - but not the strangest. Not by a long way.

      Delete
  65. Thanks for the link - such an interesting creature, and quite cute in its own way! Your question of their final form is such a good one. So many unknowns and assumed truths in this world of ours. We really probably don't know nearly as much as we think!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan F.: I am still wondering. And will never know. And I am pretty certain that we don't know nearly as much as we think we do.

      Delete
  66. Beautiful pictures! I had to laugh about the roses. :) I am glad you found room for them and am sure they will be gorgeous. I especially liked the pictures with the dew. Fabulous! Thanks for sharing. :)
    ~Jess

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DMS ~ Jess: I laughed about the roses too - but snarled as well. And they do all have homes in the garden and will hopefully thrive.

      Delete
  67. Hi EC,
    Have you given any thoughts to framing your sunrise pictures? They are awesome. They just breathe serenity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sandra Cox: The only photos we have having on the walls are some of Antarctica, and a few from my partner's exotic holidays...

      Delete