some facts about fish that live in the desert

Skinkus _ desert fish

Do you know there are desert fish?
We all know that the desert is full of different animals, there are reptiles, for example, snakes …
Among these animals there is an unknown animal, it is rare; it is called the desert fish that we can find in many countries such as Senegal, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Sudan.

Habitat

Skinkus loves sand, where it lives there, like a fish in water, buries itself and “swims” in it at a depth of 10 to 40 cm. In hot hours it emerges.
It is found throughout the Sahara in large sandy areas, not found in very arid areas such as Tenere.

Morphology

The skinkus is a medium-sized lizard with a short, strong tapered tail (total length 20 cm, including 12 cm for the body). The holes are adapted for life under the sand: the eyes are small, the ear is protected by scales, the muzzle tapers to split the sand. The dorsal scales are smooth, larger than the abdominal scales, the fingers and toes have a scaly lateral fringe.
Males have very swollen tail bases.
The dorsal surface is pale yellow to reddish beige; or orange with black transverse stripes, veil or brown. The sides and ventral side are white. Juveniles are uniformly sandy yellow.

Food

The skinkus feeds on insects, other lizards, and plants.
Living in the sand, he discovers the vibrations emitted by his future prey, and swims up to them to catch them.

Did you know that in some countries people eat desert fish?

In some countries; as in the south of Tunisia, they eat desert fish because they see that it is a good medicine for some diseases. they are said to taste like fish.