Mudskippers store air in their burrows

Atsushi Ishimatsu (), Yasuhiro Hishida, Toru Takita, Takeshi Kanda, Shin Oikawa, Tatsusuke Takeda and Khoo Khay Huat
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Atsushi Ishimatsu: Marine Research Institute, Nagasaki University
Yasuhiro Hishida: Marine Research Institute, Nagasaki University
Toru Takita: Faculty of Fisheries, Nagasaki University
Takeshi Kanda: Fisheries Research Laboratory, Miyazaki University
Shin Oikawa: Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University
Tatsusuke Takeda: Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University
Khoo Khay Huat: School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Nature, 1998, vol. 391, issue 6664, 237-238

Abstract: Abstract Mudskipper fishes can maintain their metabolism while they are confined in mudflat burrows filled with oxygen-depleted water, and their eggs, deposited in the burrows, can develop under severely hypoxic conditions1. How they cope with such conditions has been unclear. We report here that a mudskipper species Periophthalmodon schlosseri (Fig. 1) accumulates air in its burrows. This behaviour seems to be an adaptation to provide oxygen for burrow-dwelling fish and for embryos developing in the burrows. Figure 1 Periophthalmodon schlosseri resting in the surface water pool of a burrow. The fish on the left has just emerged from the burrow and is gulping air.

Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1038/34560

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