Mud <ea>
Adapted from "Pepuyu, the Walking Fish" by utari ninghadiyati and Alnurul Gheulia. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
I am not like most fish. I am a kind of perch that can go up hills.
I like to eat bugs and bug eggs. It helps out the farmers as well.
I also eat small fish and other animals in the water.
Oh no! Do not eat that worm! You will be the snack!
As I eat all of these things, I grow and grow.
I grow sharp spines on my back to keep me safe.
Birds fly by with their sharp beaks. We go up to spots that are hard to get to.
In parts of the year, there is not much rain. Our lakes, ponds and swamps dry up.
It is hard to find food when the water dries up.
We do not freak out. We use our strong fins to walk on the land!
We have found the spot! The mud is soft here.
We dig down in the mud so that we can rest until the rain comes.
Here comes the rain! It is time to walk around and eat.
We are a cool kind of perch that can breathe out of water.