PlanetCatfish.com

I was wondering about the almost froglike 'blinking' that loricards and some other species of catfish exibit. Is it an artifact of something that has moved from land to water somewhere on the evolutionary scale?. A lot of cats seem to exibit a lot more controll in their eyes than 'regular' fish but seeing as they live in the same environment there seems to be no real reason for it. Anyone know the secret?

Not certain but I believe someone here at planetcatfish told me that they do this to clear their eyes of dirt/debri.

If I understand the current evolotionary theory, animals evolved from water to land - not from land to water.

Although I'm certains SOME critters have gone the other way, so it's not a strict one-way movement. However, I'm pretty sure catfish aren't formerly land-based creatures.

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Mats

Thankyou for the link to the older thread, Its a very fascinating subject and something I have always wondered about. I have noticed the movement in all my catfish, a Gibbicep, Common bristlenose, Corydora aneus and Hoplosternum Thoracatum, The best 'blinker' in the whole tank is probably the Gibbicep who can almost shut his eyes, being located at the top of his head and almost froglike, I suppose the extra fleshy covering rather than skull actually helps him achieve it a little better than a corydora. Strangley enough I Noticed they almost always perform this action when 'at rest' rather than when when foraging or swimming. Sometimes even in conjunction with 'yawning'.