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Mugil cephalus
The Striped Mullet feeds mainly on detritus. The mangrove area where these were spotted provides some safety and food. While not noticed during this spotting, these fish are know to occasionally leap out of the water. This habit may be an effort to avoid predators.
Spotted off the boardwalk in a local nature park in a mangrove area. In general, they occur in fresh, brackish and marine habitats. They are widespread in coastal tropical to warm temperate waters.
Texas Parks & Wildlife http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wil...
Spotted on Oct 27, 2011
Submitted on Oct 29, 2011
2 Comments
It was the best I could come up with from the state and university sites. I also gathered that it was not well understood.
Sarah, I was thinking about that the other day--why mullet leap out of the water for no apparnt reason. I watch them every morning. If it were predators almost all of them would jump up at the same time. But it's usually just one or two leisurely leaps. (I've seen as many as six though) Wish someone could explain that random jumping.