Strange fish can live 2 months on the ground

According to a recent study, an anomalous bisexual fish can live for weeks and hunt on land due to its powerful jumping ability.

The mangrove rivulus is found in wetlands from Florida, USA to Brazil. They are no longer than 75cm in length. With a weak and sluggish appearance, rivulus is a hermaphrodite species (although science has found some males) and they reproduce by their ability to fertilize themselves.

Studies from 2007 found that this fish can live on the ground for 66 consecutive days. According to a Reuters time report, they were found to be living in damp mangrove wood stalks and even inside old beer cans or coconut shells.

Rivulus fish live in saline water

The new study says that in these days on land, this amphibian species changes its gills to breathe through the skin. However, part of their incredible terrestrial survival ability is due to their powerful jumping.

The team filmed a rivulus stuck on land and discovered that it had used its tail to move. The video shows that, when lying on a flat ground, the fish bends and uses the power of the tail to pop up to move horizontally or vertically.

For comparison, scientists filmed a bass fish wide-mouthed out of the water. The bass also curled into a 'C' shape and pushed it out of the water in a vertical direction but could not control the turn.

'Sea bass is very poor in jumping on land. That's what is expected because they rarely travel on the ground, ' explains researcher Benjamin Perlman at Wake Forest University.

Usually, sea bass only jumps to the ground when they are washed ashore, hunted by predators or when they jump on and catch insects and accidentally fall to the ground.

"Meanwhile, amphibious rivulus fish is better adapted. When the water environment is reduced in oxygen or the level of hydrogen sulfide (a compound that is toxic to fish) increases, the rivulus fish can move to live on. Perlman said that the skill of the rivulus will help them escape the enemy and hunt on the ground like crickets, " Perlman said.