Blinking fish could hold secrets of our evolution

An ugly blinking fish could hold the secret to how ancient animals evolved the ability to live on land, a new study has found

- BEN TURNER

Mudskippers, a subfamily of fish that live both on land and in the water, are the only fish that can blink, and they evolved this ability independently from our ancestors, a concept known as convergent evolution.

Scientists think that blinking evolved in land animals when they made the transition from the oceans roughly 375 million years ago. Therefore, studying this example of convergent evolution has offered clues as to how our primordial ancestors first took to Earth’s shores.

“Animals blink for many reasons,” said Thomas Stewart, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State University. “It helps us keep our eyes wet and clean, it helps us protect our eyes from injury, and we even use blinking for communication.