Seriously, there's so many unique adaptations that these little gobies do that make me wonder if they'll be a new form of amphibious organism. I mean, they don't have lobed fins, but bones connecting their pectoral fins are angled to form "elbows" to help traverse on land. They also can blink! FUCKING BLINK! Most reptiles don't blink! Or, using water in it's mouth as a tongue to help swallow? Or using Suction cupped pelvic fins to climb up mangrove roots? Or to breath with it's skin, or to roll in the mud to not dry out?
There's so much about these shits that if it weren't for humans, these guys would start to populate in total freshwater ponds and traverse through marshes and swamps. You can even see throughout their entire subfamily of 30-some species how they've adapted to live on land, and the more terrestrial a species is, the more upstream in freshwater you'll find them.
So, are they the new Tiktaalik of tomorrow? Or is this a fluke accident?
They're doing pretty well as mudskippers and land niches are already pretty well-covered, so probably not.
>>2127137
BBUUUAARGH
>>2127142
But what about that frog fungus that's spread worldwide? If there is a few extinctions of frogs, then there might as well be some chance for mudskippers to gain a bit of traction, no?
>>2127145
what a life
there needs to be a new rule to sage all speculative evolution threads
