Do you know how many species of fish there are on earth?
As of 2019, more than 36,000 species of fish have been found worldwide, of which more than 14,000 are freshwater fish. On Earth, 73% of the area is covered by oceans, and the oceans we have detected account for only 5% of the total area, such a vast ocean, there must be a lot of fish that we have not found!
The three kinds of fish I want to introduce to you today, although they are not deep-sea fish, will definitely refresh your cognition!
Some of them can walk, some can climb trees, and some will drown in the water! Let's take a look at this "strange fish"!
【Climbing perch】
True to its name, the climbing perch is a strange fish that climbs mountains and mountains like a flat ground - this is because their fins, abdominal scales and gills are very hard and powerful, and it can use these organs and tissues to bounce on the ground, just like humans walk. 30 minutes can walk more than 100 meters away.
This fish is mainly distributed in the "indigenous fish species" in the Liangguang area, folk and commonly known as bamao fish, mountain crucian carp, etc., Guangdong people call it Guangdong people called "Guangxi Bin", it is an omnivorous fish species, adult fish body length of about 15-25 cm.
Clad in silver-gray or earth-yellow scales, the body color changes due to environmental influences, and a row of sharp hard spines grow on its back and abdomen, mainly living in slow-flowing ditches and ponds, feeding on small aquatic creatures.
From the appearance, it looks a bit like crucian carp, so it is also called a crucian carp
Although it looks ordinary, it is a real "king of water".
The climbing perch has a set of respiratory organs that are different from other fish, and the gill lid has a gill organ similar to a flower, which can help it absorb oxygen directly, and can survive for 6 days without water in a place where there is no hot sun exposure and a humid environment.
However, this organ also has a disadvantage, the gills of the climbing perch are so badly degraded that they cannot filter enough oxygen from the water. Every once in a while they have to go to the surface of the water to breathe air, otherwise they will suffocate due to lack of oxygen, commonly known as drowning.
When climbing bass feel that their surroundings are not suitable for survival, they will use their ability to move on land and migrate to the next body of water "over the mountains". Walking on the road, if you see a school of fish walking in groups, you must not feel strange. That's where the cute climbing perch is migrating!
The vitality of climbing perch is particularly tenacious, they do not have high water quality requirements for the water, strong adaptability, and fast reproduction speed! Because the scales are hard, the dorsal fin and ventral fin are thorny, and there are few natural enemies in the water! Not only can this armor walk on land, but even in the water, large predatory aquatic creatures or birds will not swallow them.
Have you ever seen such an interesting fish?
【Flower Creek Medaka】
The Flower Creek Medaka, also known as the Mangrove Medaka, is a fish that can survive in the tree for months.
The fish live in Latin American swamps, and whenever the swamps in which they live dry up, they try to "climb" into dead trees in the swamps, hiding in cracks or holes in branches or trunks, and live for months. Because the rotten wood in the swamp is soft and will absorb a lot of water, it can help the small fish survive the dry season.
This fish can temporarily change its physiological structure so that it can breathe air. They use their cheeks to retain moisture and nutrients and use their skin to drain waste. After returning to the water country, they will return to their original appearance.
Although they are small fish, they have cleverly mastered the "evacuation technique", and how do they know this method?
Even more peculiar is the fish's ability to "reproduce" without a mate.
Flower Creek medaka has both male and female reproductive organs, their eggs can be fertilized in the body, and the tiny embryos are then discharged into the water to reproduce. Many experts and scholars believe that the Flower Creek Medaka is "outlier" because they do not meet the standard living habits of fish, what do you think?
After introducing these two kinds of fish, let's talk about "fish that won't die for three years"! It is ⬇️
【African lungfish】
This fish can live for three or four years without water, and in the 2017 Chicago Aquarium, there was a fish that lived for more than 90 years, and it is also known that the lungfish lived the longest, but finally died of illness.
Lungfish inhabit freshwater and can grow up to about 2 meters in size, and are omnivorous fish. In Africa, the rainy season is from January to February and August to September, and during the dry season, the river will dry up rapidly, and many fish can only wait to die, while the lungfish have dug up the escape route early.
Before the riverbed is completely dry, the lungfish will burrow into the burrow and spit out mucus to wrap themselves, which will soon be roasted dry, after which a cocoon will form, and for the next 6 months, the lungfish will go to sleep and spend it without eating or drinking.
There was news that an African lungfish was built in the wall tiles by local residents, and after 3 years, this lungfish is still alive, although it is only a fish, but it has to lament the tenacity of life!
Food and supplies are scarce in Africa, but during the dry season, smart Africans come to the riverbed to dig up lungfish. Africans clean the dug lungfish, then use the basin to temporarily raise it for a period of time, and then put it in a basin without water to apply various spices after the lungfish spit out all the debris in the stomach.
It is said that grilled lungfish are particularly delicious, so when the water is dry, the riverbed is full of people digging lungfish. Maybe the lungfish did not expect that the ancestors spent hundreds of millions of years evolving, buried deep underground in order to survive, but they did not expect to escape the fate of being eaten by humans!
Which of these three fish do you prefer?