Shuttles hoppfish
Amazing fact
Male Shuttles hoppfish turn pale pink during the breeding season from early summer into summer.
葛西臨海水族園
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Male Shuttles hoppfish turn pale pink during the breeding season from early summer into summer.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Shuttles hoppfish
- Scientific name
- Periophthalmus modestus
- Japanese name
- トビハゼ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Gobiiformes
- Family
- Gobiidae
- Genus
- Periophthalmus
A fish of muddy tidal flats. It rarely goes into the water, and when it needs to move fast it hops along using the back part of its body.
It breathes through its skin as well as its gills. It rolls on the mud to coat its body with muddy water and keep its skin from drying out.
It digs burrows in the tidal flat. A burrow protects it from enemies such as birds, helps it escape summer heat and winter cold, and is used for laying eggs.
How the Shuttles hoppfish lives
They eat crustaceans and bristle worms, among other foods. Mud that they take into their mouths and spit out piles up around their burrows. During the breeding season, males wriggle their bodies to court females.
葛西臨海水族園Basic data
- Size
- Total length: 7 cm
- Diet
- Crustaceans, polychaetes, and other foods
- Range
- Tokyo Bay to the Ryukyu Islands, Korean Peninsula, and China
- Conservation status in Japan
- Near Threatened (NT)Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020
Where the Shuttles hoppfish has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- トビハゼ
- 简体中文
- 广东弹涂鱼
- 繁體中文
- 彈塗魚
- 한국어
- 말뚝망둑어
- Español
- Saltarín del fango modesto
- Deutsch
- Gewöhnlicher Schlammspringer
- Italiano
- Perioftalmo modesto
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 葛西臨海水族園 — トビハゼChecked: 2026-11-03
- Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
The conservation status in Japan is the category in the Red Lists of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, which assess the risk of extinction for wild animals in Japan.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeWhen you meet the Shuttles hoppfish, look for this
- Look for it moving over the mud using its pectoral fins.
- You might also see it pull in the eyes on top of its head.
Animals do different things from day to day, so you may not always see this.
葛西臨海水族園EXHIBIT INFORMATION
Places that keep or show the Shuttles hoppfish
Zoos, aquariums and other places whose official websites say they keep or show this animal.
Kanto
Displays can change with the animals’ health and the seasons. Check each facility’s official website before you go.
RELATIVES
Others in Gobiidae
MORE TO MEET
