Since 2000, I’ve been fortunate to have been able to work with US Fish and Wildlife agents, state wildlife officials, as well as research biologists and visit a number of caves in North America with interesting subterranean wildlife. Of all of my field work, many of the questions I have emailed to me revolve around subterranean wildlife. So I thought I’d start the blog with a few short comments and a number of related images to North American subterranean biodiversity.
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Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni is known as the Alabama Cave Fish. It is a single site endemic (only known from one locality). It is widely considered one of the most endangered fish in North America.
A close-up of the head of Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni reveals its lateral line system.
The Ozark Cave Fish (Amblyopsis rosae) is a federally listed endangered species. It is endemic to the Ozark Plateaus Ecoregion. This individual was photographed in Oklahoma.
The Southern Cave Fish (Typhlichthys subterraneus) has the largest range of any subterranean fish in North America. This individual was photographed in Tennessee.
In the Ozarks, the Bristly Cave Crayfish (Cambarus setosus) has been found in more localities than any other obligate groundwater species (stygobite) in the region.
Endemic to Oklahoma, the Delaware County Cave Crayfish (Cambarus subterraneus) is known from just several localities.
Endemic to Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Cave Crayfish (Cambarus tartarus) is also known from only three subterranean localities.
The Orange Lake Cave Crayfish (Procambarus lucifugus lucifugus) is endemic to a relatively small area of Florida.
The Miami Cave Crayfish (Procambarus milleri) is found in the subterranean waters below the Miami area. While it is only known from subterranean waters, it is believed to be a recent invader (relatively speaking). The species still has visual structures and some pigmentation. I thank P. Radice of the Angels Fish Hatchery, FL, USA for the opportunity to photograph this specimen.
Of all of the cave crayfish, the Spider Cave Crayfish (Troglocambarus maclanei) from Florida is believed to have the most modified body form for a subterranean existence. Aside from the loss of pigmentation and visual structures, its chelae (pinchers) are thin, weak and delicate, its legs are attenuate (more slender - spider-like), and it attains a diminutive adult size relative to other crayfish; adults are only a couple of inches in size. They live on the ceilings of flooded subterranean passageways.
Only known from the Arbuckles of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Cave Amphipod (Allocrangonyx pellucidus) is a relatively large groundwater amphipod that has lost visual structures and pigmentation.
Some species of groundwater isopods in the Ozarks can approach an inch in total length. This is a species of Caecodotea.
This aggregation of groundwater isopods was an amazing thing to witness in the Ozarks of Oklahoma. The species is Caecidotea macropropoda.
The Ozark Blind Cave Salamander (Eurycea spelaea) is the only subterranean salamander that undergoes predictable and regular metamorphosis from an aquatic larval stage to a terrestrial adult (Gyrinophilus subterraneus, the Wester Virginia Spring Salamander, may be another exception but more data is needed to answer that question). All other obligate subterranean salamanders are paedomorphic with infrequent metamorphosis.
I studied Ozark Blind Cave Salamanders (Eurycea spelaea) for my Masters work at the University of Oklahoma. My research site was in the Ozarks of Oklahoma. Here is an image of an aquatic larvae, found deep within a cave system, that had little pigmentation.
This is a recently metamorphosed adult Ozark Blind Cave Salamander (Eurycea spelaea). Notice the smaller, degenerating eyes, the eye lids that are beginning to grow over them, and the reduced pigment.
In older Ozark Blind Cave Salamanders (Eurycea spelaea) notice that the eyes are reduced to small dark lumps. In some animals, the eye lids grow over the vestigial eyes.
The West Virginia Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus subterraneus) is known only from a single cave. I was fortunate enough to participate in a survey of the known population for the Nature Conservancy.
At metamorphosis, this West Virginia Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus subterraneus) still has stubs of gill tissue and a degenerating tail fin.
Metamorphosed adult West Virginia Spring Salamanders (Gyrinophilus subterraneus) are rare, but we did encounter both life stages during our survey of their one known population.
The Texas Blind Salamander (Eurycea rathbuni) may be the most recognizable obligate subterranean salamanders to the general public. It is a federally listed endangered species.
As with most groundwater salamanders, the Texas Blind Salamander (Eurycea rathbuni) is threatened by over extraction of groundwater and contamination of subterranean waters by fertilizers, pesticides, and other human produced contaminants.
This is a blind, groundwater dwelling Eurycea species.
Here is a "face-on" look at the Eurycea species.
The Austin Blind Salamander (Eurycea waterlooensis) is another of the many subterranean salamanders of Texas. As with E. rathbuni, there is a captive breeding facility that does quite well breeding the salamanders under artificial conditions.
I’ve always loved the Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga). This particular individual was encountered in Missouri. It is a good example of a pigment mutation. As far as I can tell, it is partially amelanistic.
Diplurans diverged from the lineage that gave rise to modern insects before the evolution of flight; diplurans are flightless. This is a representatives of the Litocampid diplurans. Notice the paired, long and delicate cerci attached to the last body segment.
Japygid diplurans look (superficially) like earwigs.
This trichoniscid isopod (Miktoniscus oklahomensis) is a terrestrial cave dweller from the Arbuckles of Oklahoma.
Opilionids are arachnids, related to spiders and scorpions. They are not uncommon in caves and there are a few subterranean species. This one was photographed in the Appalachians of Tennessee.
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:24 am
I was just googling around about this when I came by your blog post. I’m just stopping by to say that I truly liked seeing this post, it is very clear and well written. Are you planning topost more about this? It seems like there’s more depth here for more posts.
May 23rd, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Hi,
Thank you for your comments. There is undoubtedly a lot of room for more posts about subterranean wildlife. I plan on future posts after visits to specific subterranean systems and I’m happy to answer any questions here. I intended for this post to be an opener where people can see just a few of the spectacular subterranean species we have in North America.
Thanks for your time,
Danté
July 7th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Spectacular photos of a little known fauna! This blog idea is fantastic and you definitely need to keep this up as a way to let folks see your beautiful photographs and to educate individuals about the subterranean world that lives benath us. Keep up your great work Dante!
Rob
July 8th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Rob,
Thanks for the compliments! It means a lot to me coming from you. I have quite a bit of subterranean work planned so hopefully I’ll have a good bit to post.
Cheers,
Dante
July 13th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I recognize some of those critters!
July 13th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Matt,
I’ve really enjoyed the time we have been able to spend working in the field together. I appreciate the effort you have made to show me some exceptional subterranean fauna. I sincerely hope there will be a lot more!
Cheers,
Dante
July 21st, 2009 at 6:15 pm
tks for the effort you put in here I appreciate it!
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:47 am
Pretty cool post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really liked reading your blog posts. Anyway
I’ll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you post again soon!
August 1st, 2009 at 10:05 am
I wanted to introduce myself – Thanks
Mary Aloe
August 4th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
thanks !! very helpful post!
September 12th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Wow, great images and what a great intro to subterranean animals! I came across the photos while searching for reference photos of isopods for my own master’s project in the Ozarks. I’m looking at the habitats of paedomorphic and metamorphic localities of E. tynerensis, including all biotic and abiotic variables. The Plethodontids of the interior highlands really are fascinating, it’s such a great zone. You mentioned doing your masters work at OU; who did you study under there? I worked for a couple years at Sam Noble in Herpetology while doing my undergrad at OU, before coming to TU under Dr. Bonett.
Do you by any chance have a flickr or any other site for more of your photos? I really enjoyed these!
September 13th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Hi Sam,
Thanks for the comments. When I was working on my Masters project at the University of Oklahoma I studied under Dr. Jan Caldwell. I appreciate that she allowed me to look into the ecology of Ozark Blind Cave Salamanders, Eurycea spelaea.
Your advisor is a good friend and we are actually working on a couple of projects right now.
I have a few more images up from my main website page http://www.anotheca.com
under the “photographer” tab but thats about it.
You are in a great lab and there is no doubt in my mind that you will have a great experience at TU. Best of luck.
October 19th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Dante,
Amazing images. I was wondering about your technique for image capture and post processing. Are you using squeeze boxes and lighting the subjects with LEDs or strobes? Any darkening of the background in post??? I am keen to learn any pointers about your excellent photography. Keep up the good work documenting our planet’s amazing biodiversity.
December 7th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Hi Todd,
I shoot a lot of the aquatic fauna in photographic tanks, squeeze boxes work just fine. Post-process work includes cropping, removal of bubbles or anything else unwanted in the water column, and I usually make a copy of the image for the internet that is lightened up a bit more than normal. Many computer screens render images darker than they really are. The subjects are all lit using a macro flash unit produced originally by Minolta and now by Sony with dual flash heads. If you have taken an image and need to darken the background just a little bit, Photoshop allows that feature under their “exposure” option under the “adjustments” category. The black backgrounds here are not post process.
Thanks for the comments!
Cheers,
Danté
December 17th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
DO u know the internal anatomy of the Ozark Cavefish??
December 19th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Hi Maria,
Dr. Tom Poulson, Dr. GO Graening, and Matt Niemiller have taught me a little bit about some aspects of Amblyopsid anatomy. Was there something specific you wanted to know?