The barred mudskipper (''Periophthalmus argentilineatus'') or silverlined mudskipper is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
mudskippers native to marine, fresh and brackish waters from the
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n coast of the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
to the
Marianas and
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
in the western
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
and from the
Ryukyus
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...
south to
Australia. This species occurs in
mangrove forests and
nipa palm
''Nypa fruticans'', commonly known as the nipa palm (or simply nipa, from ms, nipah) or mangrove palm, is a species of palm native to the coastlines and estuarine habitats of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm considered adapt ...
stands and can cross surfaces of mud while out of the water. This species can reach a length of
TL. It can also be found in the
aquarium trade.
Parasites of the barred mudskipper include
Acanthocephala
Acanthocephala (Greek , ', thorn + , ', head) is a phylum of parasitic worms known as acanthocephalans, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterized by the presence of an eversible proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses to p ...
n larvae and the small
Opecoelid Digenean (''Opegaster ouemoensis)'' parasite in the intestine and described from fish collected in
New Caledonia.
[Bray, R. A. & Justine, J.-L. 2013: A digenean parasite in a mudskipper: ''Opegaster ouemoensis'' sp. n. (Digenea: Opecoelidae) in ''Periophthalmus argentilineatus'' Valenciennes (Perciformes: Gobiidae) in the mangroves of New Caledonia. Folia Parasitologica, 60, 7-16. ]
References
External links
Fishes of Australia : ''Periophthalmus argentilineatus''*
barred mudskipper
Marine fish of Northern Australia
barred mudskipper
Taxa named by Achille Valenciennes
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