Recent innovations in a species may expand opportunities to obtain new resources or previously inaccessible habitats. Over time, the novel behavior may diversify in response to an adaptive landscape, or alternatively may become canalized to a narrowed performance window. Selective pressures also change across life stages, which may further enhance diversification or constraint of locomotor performance. To test these alternative hypotheses, we investigated seven amphidromous species of waterfall-climbing gobies across the Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian Oceans. Two species climb waterfalls using an inching motion, a derived functional innovation that alternates movements of pelvic and oral suckers. The remaining species climb waterfalls using short bursts of swimming, followed by long rest periods in which the pelvic sucker is attached to the waterfall substrate. Climbing speed during locomotion was significantly greater in all burst climbers, but absolute speed that factored in rest periods was more similar between climbing styles. Kinematic analyses revealed greater diversity in the critical locomotor behaviors of burst climbers (e.g., fin excursion angles) than among those of inching climbers (e.g., mouth area). These findings mirror observations in juvenile climbers and suggest that functional diversity may be masked when similar performance is achieved through multiple pathways. This study illustrates that biogeographic studies of novel functional behaviors provide opportunities to assess how adaptive landscapes modulate innovation over time.