Go jump in the lake..or bay!

There is a question that I get asked all the time..and I do not have the most logical of answers. I am sure that somewhere, somehow there is an answer but no one that I have ever talked to has the answer..except Darling Daughter! The age old question..Why do mullet jump? I ponder things a good bit. This usually happens when I am sitting on the end of the pier or in the middle of the night when I am laying there wide awake for no known reason. Perhaps that is to give me the opportunity to figure the solution to the many earth-shaking problems that pound the brain! Who knows?? Then again..Why do mullet jump?

A large mullet that jumped seven times in a row!

I can honestly think of only one reason that would scientifically make sense (at least to me). These fish jump out of the water when they are trying to escape a larger fish! That might at account for the times when you see the mullet frantically trying to fly if it could! This is probably what is happening when you see a whole school of mullet jumping every which way. Under all of that mass of confusion, there is probably a nice large red fish or trout just waiting to munch on whatever it can catch. Still this does not seem to be the reason that the single mullet jumps and jumps. I have seen the same mullet jump seven or eight times in a row so I am assuming that the predator theory might not apply in this situation.

See..they really do have gills!

Then perhaps they need air! Mullet do have gills so my only idea here is that when the air content in the water is low, the fish jump out of the water to fill their lungs (?) with oxygen. Maybe when the oxygen level is really low, they have to jump many times! This could be a convincing argument to the reason but most likely has nothing to do with the jumping.

Sometimes they are really hard to photograph and all you get is the splash!

There was a time when Hubby mused.."I wonder why mullet jump?" Without missing a beat, Darling Daughter informed him that it was so they could digest their food otherwise they might get a bellyache and there would be nothing worse than a gaseous school of mullet! She went on to explain that since the fish have gizzards, they need to "pound" the food to get it small enough to digest..sort of like using a mortar and pestle. The more jumps the mullet makes..the more it had just eaten! Now her being a college graduate and all ..this is plausible! Maybe not probable but plausible...

The beautiful view of the pier (look closely..there is a mullet jumping!)

Personally, I think I have the answer! Why do mullet jump? For fun! Why not? They might get bored! Or maybe it is for the view! I have to admit that I would jump for this view!