Land invasion by the Mudskipper, Periophthalmodon septemradiatus, in fresh and Saline Waters of the Mekong River

Abstract

There has been a long-standing controversy about whether vertebrates emerged in the Paleozoic from marine or freshwater environments. Several hypotheses have proposed coastal, estuarine and riparian areas as sites of the transition. Here, we report the ecology of an amphibious fish Periophthalmodon septemradiatus, which we presume is in the process of niche expansion into terrestrial habitats from estuarine to freshwater environments along the Mekong River, Vietnam. Adult fish are highly terrestrial and have not been observed to venture into water during our survey. Courtship behaviour was observed, and fertilised eggs were recovered from burrows in both brackish and freshwater environments. The smallest fish collected at 12, 96, and 148 km from the river mouth were juveniles shortly after starting an amphibious life. These findings suggest reproduction in both brackish and freshwater environments. In contrast, otolith Sr:Ca ratio indicates larval hatching only in brackish water. Analysis of a 940-base pair (bp) segment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit II and a 934-bp segment of the mitochondrial D-loop demonstrated no genetic segregation between populations. The fish may provide a unique opportunity to study how ambient salinity affects the biology and ecology of a living vertebrate during transition from water to land.