Cavefish

Garra andruzzii showing the pale colour and lack of eyes typical of cavefish. The large red spot on the head is the blood-filled gills, visible through the semi-transparent gill cover

Cavefish or cave fish is a generic term for fresh and brackish water fish adapted to life in caves and other underground habitats. Related terms are subterranean fish, troglomorphic fish, troglobitic fish, stygobitic fish, phreatic fish, and hypogean fish.[1][page needed][2]

There are more than 200 scientifically described species of obligate cavefish found on all continents, except Antarctica.[3][4] Although widespread as a group, many species have very small ranges and are threatened.[5][6]

Cavefish are members of a wide range of families and do not form a monophyletic group.[7] Typical adaptations include reduced eyes and depigmentation.[1][2]

  1. ^ a b Romero, Aldemaro, editor (2001). The Biology of Hypogean Fishes. Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes. ISBN 978-1402000768
  2. ^ a b Helfman, G.S. (2007). Fish Conservation: A Guide to Understanding and Restoring Global Aquatic Biodiversity and Fishery Resources, pp. 41–42. Island Press. ISBN 978-1-55963-595-0
  3. ^ Proudlove, G.R. (2015). "Checklist of troglobitic subterranean fishes of the world to February 2015". cave-registry.org.uk. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  4. ^ Behrmann-Godel, J.; A.W. Nolte; J. Kreiselmaier; R. Berka; J. Freyhof (2017). "The first European cave fish". Current Biology. 27 (7): R257–R258. Bibcode:2017CBio...27.R257B. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.02.048. PMID 28376329.
  5. ^ Fenolio, D.B.; Zhao, Y.; Niemiller, M.L.; and Stout, J. (2013). In-situ observations of seven enigmatic cave loaches and one cave barbel from Guangxi, China, with notes on conservation status. Speleobiology Notes 5: 19-33.
  6. ^ Proudlove, G.S. (2001). The conservation of hypogean fishes. Environmental Biology of Fishes 62: 201-213.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Riesch2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).