Fish Tales

When the tide goes out in Penang strange creatures show up. And I mean strange.

Are these fish? Mutated half-breeds resulting from the heavily polluted waters? What are they!?!?

That’s what I kept asking myself as they flopped, crawled and scooted across the soft mud. And effortlessly darted in the water whenever I got too close.

Good thing for Google. After about ten minutes of searching I learned they are called mudskippers. An appropriate name.

Mudskippers breathe through their skin, as long as it remains moist. During high tide, they maintain an air pocket inside their burrow, which allows them to breathe in low-oxygen conditions.

Freaky mudskippers

Tide out, thousands of mud burrow holes