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Hightailing it out of the water, mudskipper style

Land-walking fish and a robot show value of an additional appendage in crawling up sandy slopes

mudskipper

FISH OUT OF WATER  A small fish called a mudskipper (shown at Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta) routinely ventures onto land with a hopping gait that inspired a robot study of the motion.

Rob Felt/Georgia Tech

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

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Nothing conquers a slippery slope like a good twitch of the tail, say researchers exploring how vertebrates could have taken the first treacherous steps on land.