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Referring to the Anabas scandens, DR. HAMILTON BUCHANAN says, that of all the fish with which he was acquainted it is the most teliacious of life; and he has known boatmen on the Ganges to keep them for five or six days in an earthen pot without water, and daily to use what they wanted, finding them as lively and fresh as when caught.
Six were from the Kalanyganga, close to Colombo, of which two were Helostoma, in shape approaching the Chætodon; two Ophiocephali, one a Silurus, and one an Anabas, but the gills were without denticulation. From the still water of the lake, close to the walls of Colombo, there were two species of Eleotris, one Silurus with barbels, and two Malacopterygians, which appear to be Bagri.
The fish in this instance was the Anabas scandens or "walking perch" of Ceylon, which derives its name from its power of locomotion on land and its ability to live out of water for some time.
The individual most frequently seen in these excursions in Ceylon is a perch called by the Singhalese Kavaya or Kawhy-ya, and by the Tamils Pannei-eri, or Sennal. It is closely allied to the Anabas scandens of Cuvier, the Perca scandens of Daldorf. It grows to about six inches in length, the head round and covered with scales, and the edges of the gill-covers strongly denticulated.
The fish which the moodliar sent to me is an Anabas, closely resembling the Perca scandens of Daldorf; but on minute examination it proves to be a species unknown in India, and hitherto found only in Boreno and China. It is the A. oligolepis of Bleek.
Sammy's maiden aunt, an old fish who lived in the same stream with him, used to tell strange tales of fish that can live several days out of water by reason of the different formation of their gills. One of these is a tropical fish called the Anabas. It has very strong Pectoral fins which it uses like feet when on land, and it will even climb trees to catch the insects which it eats.
The most celebrated of these is the Anabas, or "climbing-fish." an Indian fish, which not only can remain many days out of the water, but also amuses itself by climbing up the palm trees it is hard to say how and establishing itself in the little pools of water left by the rain at the roots of the leaves. But we need not go to India to find those wandering fishes.
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