---
title: Common Mudskipper (Periophthalmus kalolo)
scientific_name: Periophthalmus kalolo
common_name: Common Mudskipper
taxon: Gobies
published: 2026-08-08T14:32:23.463Z
updated: 2026-08-08T15:31:41.903Z
tags: Common Mudskipper, Periophthalmus kalolo, Gobies, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/common-mudskipper
---

# Common Mudskipper (*Periophthalmus kalolo*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Gobies (*Gobiidae*)
- **Size:** up to 12 cm
- **Depth:** 0-1 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Mangrove roots and rocky tidal shores
- **Reproduction:** Egg layer, Gonochoric

## How to recognise it

- smaller and stockier than the silverlined mudskipper
- brown with faint pale flecks, no clear silver lines
- climbs onto mangrove roots and rock above the waterline
- length up to 12 cm

A smaller, stockier mudskipper of about 12 cm (5 in), plain brown with faint pale flecks and none of the silvery streaking that names its relative. It works mangrove roots and rocky tidal shores, and climbs - a mudskipper found half a metre above the waterline on a root is normally this species.

Mudskippers hold territory on the flats and settle disputes by display: dorsal fins go up, the animals face off, and the loser retreats without contact. They feed on small crabs, insects and worms taken from the surface of the mud, snapping them up with a mouthful of water that acts as a tongue, since a fish out of water cannot swallow dry. Tidal shorelines with mangrove are the place to look, at low water, from land. Both mudskippers here sit at the edge of what a marine catalogue covers, which is exactly what makes them worth including.

## Also known as

- **English:** common mudskipper, Kalolo Mudskipper, African Mudhopper
- **Arabic:** نطاط الطين الشائع
- **French:** Périophthalme à joue noire
- **Spanish:** Saltarín del fango Común
- **Chinese:** 卡路彈塗魚
- **Ukrainian:** Стрибун звичайний
- **Russian:** Илистый прыгун обыкновенный
- **DA:** Almindelig dyndspringer

## Scientific synonyms

- *Periophthalmus africana* Eggert, 1935
- *Periophthalmus africanus* Eggert, 1935
- *Periophthalmus koelreuteri africanus* Eggert, 1935

## Range

Indian Ocean, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/gobies/common-mudskipper)*
*Updated: August 8, 2026*