Many surface-dwelling fish occasionally enter caves, but true
cavefish have evolved over many millennia to spend their lives underground in complete darkness.
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.
Finally, even though Belostoma readily feed on
cavefish in an experimental setting and can occasionally be observed in situ capturing fish (Fig.
More than one hundred
cavefish species belonging to three families are found in China.
The blind Mexican
cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus) have not only lost their sight but have adapted to perpetual darkness by also losing their pigment (albinism) and having altered sleep patterns.
Scale development and patterns of squamation on the spring
cavefish, Chologaster agassizi (Amblyopsidae).
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.
Morphology and reproduction of the
cavefish Trichomycterus chaberti and the related epigean Trichomycterus cf.
The ability of these blind
cavefish to detect objects and navigate inspired the research group to mimic the hairs in the laboratory, said Vladimir Tsukruk, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Materials Science and Engineering.
It is unknown what specific host life cycle is followed in this cave environment since other potential second intermediate hosts are found within, including southern two-lined salamanders, Eurycea cirrigera, northern green frogs, Lithobates (Rana) clamitans melanota, American bullfrogs, Lithobates (Rana) catesbeianus, and the southern
cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus.
One acute pollution event, even if detected by proposed monitoring stations, could not be stopped from reaching Key Cave, and could lead to the death of Alabama
cavefish.
Federally listed threatened or endangered species and species of concern that benefit from the refuge are the endangered Ozark big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii ingens), gray bat (Myotis grisescens), and Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis); the threatened Ozark
cavefish (Amblyopsis rosae); and species of concern like the eastern small-footed bat (Myotis leibii), southeastern bat (Myotis austroriparius), southeastern big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii), longnose darter (Percina nasuta), Ozark cave crayfish (Cambarus aculabrum), Bowman's cave amphipod (Stygobromus bowmani), Ozark cave amphipod (Stygobromus ozarkensis), bat cave isopod (Caecidotea macropoda), and Ozark chinquapin (Castanea pumila var.
