Special Skin Keeps Fish Species Alive on Land

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/11/08/special_skin_keeps_fish_species_alive_on_land.html

Professor Wright, a biologist, has been studying these special fish, called mangrove killifish, that can survive on land when there is no water. For a long time the ion exchange confused Wright; she didn't understand how the fish exchanged ions when there was no water. Her team of researchers later discovered that there are ionocytes on the skin of these fish instead of on their gills. This allows the fish to balance the number of ions out of water. In normal fish these ionocytes dissapear when they are developing but in the mangrove killifish they stay. The number of ionocytes return to normal when the fish are back in water.
To me, I think these fish are pretty awesome. I always thought that it was impossible for fish to live out of water for an extended period of time. This article makes me wonder how many other surprises there are in nature, and how many discoveries are awaiting humans to find them. I learned in this article what ionocytes are, and that fish cannot survive without an equal exchange and balance of ions. I will now be more open when reading things about nature and I will continue to look for amazing facts like the ones included in this article.