Atlantic Mudskipper

The Atlantic mudskipper belongs to the Oxudercidae, the goby family, and is one of the few fish that spends as much time out of the water as in it. Olive-brown flecked with blue, it carries two protruding eyes mounted on top of its skull and muscular pectoral fins, hinged like small arms, which it uses to crawl, skip and climb. It reaches around fifteen centimetres. It ranges along the West African coast from Mauritania to Angola, in mangrove swamps and on tidal flats exposed at low water. Semi-aquatic, it digs burrows in the mud, patrols its territory in the open, and stores water in its gill chambers, which lets it breathe in open air for hours at a time. Its care has nothing in common with an ordinary aquarium: it needs a brackish paludarium at a specific gravity near 1.005, with an exposed beach, shallow water, warm and very humid air, and a tight-fitting lid. Allow 150 litres over a 120 cm footprint, floor space mattering far more than height. A single specimen is the safest choice, as males eliminate one another once space runs short. Feed frozen and live meaty foods; the species has never been bred in captivity.