cavefish


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cavefish,

common name for blind, cave-dwelling fishes of the family Amblyopsidae. The Amblyopsidae are mostly whitish fish, up to 5 in. (13 cm) long. With the exception of a single species, all members of the family live in the limestone cave region of the Mississippi basin. The species that live in caves have nonfunctioning rudimentary eyes. Two species, the springfish and the ricefish (or riceditch killifish), have small, functional eyes. The ricefish, which superficially resembles the toothed minnow, is found in streams and swamps of the SE United States. Other, unrelated fish also live in cave and have rudimentary or nonexistent eyes. The cavefish and their relatives are classified in the phylum ChordataChordata
, phylum of animals having a notochord, or dorsal stiffening rod, as the chief internal skeletal support at some stage of their development. Most chordates are vertebrates (animals with backbones), but the phylum also includes some small marine invertebrate animals.
..... Click the link for more information. , subphylum Vertebrata, class Actinopterygii, order Percopsiformes, family Amblyopsidae.
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NJIT joined with Louisiana State University and the University of Florida to examine the phylogenomic relationships, morphology, biomechanics and walking performance of the blind cavefish and its relatives, from an evolutionary perspective.
NJIT part of research collaboration to study walking cavefish
Flushing artificial bloodlike fluid over excised brains and eyes allowed the team to compare the demands of vision-related body parts in blind cavefish with the demands in tetras with fully functioning eyes.
Loss of vision saved cavefish energy: in dark, eyesight can be costly, oxygen measurements show
Kowalko et al., "Cryptic variation in morphological evolution: HSP90 as a capacitor for loss of eyes in cavefish," Science, vol.
Plasticity-mediated persistence in new and changing environments
Finally, even though Belostoma readily feed on cavefish in an experimental setting and can occasionally be observed in situ capturing fish (Fig.
Population structure, habitat use, and diet of giant waterbugs in a sulfidic cave
The olfactory epithelium of cavefish, Sinocyclocheilus jii and S.
Anatomical Studies of the Olfactory Epithelium of Two Cave Fishes Sinocyclocheilus jii and S. furcodorsalis (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae) from China
The cave lakes have a genetically blind and albinic cavefish.
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A visual audience effect in a cavefish. Behaviour 145: 931-947.
Male Grijalva mosquitofish (Heterophallus milleri Radda, 1987) increase individual mating preferences in front of an audience
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Washington, Jan 23 ( ANI ): Several populations of cavefish have constantly and independently, lost their eyesight and pigmentation, which is a remarkable example of convergent evolution, researchers say.
Why Mexican cavefish turned blind
For example, Reif (1985) investigated the morphogenesis and function of the squamation of sharks, Hill (1971) the appearance of scales and patterns of squamation on an actinopterygian, the spring cavefish (Forbesichthys agassizii (Putnam)), Sire & Akimenko (2004) scale development and squamation pattern in another actinopterygian zebra danio (Danio rerio (Hamilton)).
A unique Late Silurian Thelodus squamation from Saaremaa (Estonia) and its ontogenetic development/Haruldane Thelodus'e soomuskate Hilis-Silurist Saaremaalt ja tema ontogeneetiline arenemine
Cave biologists spotlight the most obvious adaptations by distinguishing among three types of cave animals: Troglobites (or troglobionts) like tiny cavefish dwell in caves and nowhere else; troglophiles may live in caves most of the time or in similar environments outside; trogloxenes spend time inside and outside caves.
In the dark: how do animals adapt to cave life?
Topics include geographic distribution of cavefish, biology of cavefish including cellular mechanisms of eye degeneration, reproduction timing, male mating behavior, migratory neural crest cells, gut contents in relation to prey densities, conservation of subterranean fishes, and genetic diversity of cavefish populations.
Biology of subterranean fishes

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