> So they just swim to the surface for air? Odd..
They have a specialized organ on their head... IIRC, it's called a labyrinth. It lets them breathe air from the surface. I read that it came about cuz they evolved in super-polluted ponds in China or something where the water's "unbreathable" for fish.
BTW, some ppl stick them in vases with a water plant and think they live off the roots or something. Very very wrong... they need food and they need to be able to surface.
Edit: Oh, I'm wrong -- apparently they do have gills, but they're not really necessary.