You sure it was looking for food, or trying to breathe?
This was in a fresh water retention pond that spills into the Indian River ....right in town
The 4'' sook crawled along the edge in about 3'' of water....twice it ran quickly sideways,completely out of the water and grabbed something on the sand and ran back to the water....she stopped in 3'' and sort of looked at her find and then continued along the bank and repeated the act about 10' further...she spooked to the deep when i tried to get a pic.....Also in about 15'' of water along the same bank,a line of what looked like small size grass clippings floated along the bank, pushed by the breeze....a 3'' crab would quickly rise from the bottom , grab something on the surface and quickly go down to where he could not be seen until he did it again....just like,and as fast as trout rising....seen 2 crabs doing this....one thing I learned is how good a crab can see..trying to get close to get a pic spooked all....will go back with a better camera
PS...It was about noon and I don't drink till 6.