First, the overview and characteristics of cave fish
Cave fish are endemic to karst geomorphological caves, because they live in dark caves, and some of their eyes have degenerated and disappeared, becoming blind fish. Some eyes are small, and there is a tendency to degenerate and disappear. Cave fish eyes are small and have no visual function. The whole body, head and tail are covered with sensitive haptic devices, so you can feel what it can't see. Cave fish are known as blind fish, eyeless fish or transparent fish. Cave fish feed mainly on attached algae on the rocks in caves or organic matter detritus in the water.
In 1842, the hawkfish was one of the first cave fish in the world to be discovered, followed by Cuba, Brazil and Africa. Asia is widely distributed in Iran and Iraq. China caught a cave fish in a cave in Jianshui, Yunnan in 1976. It has aroused great interest among ichthyologists and geologists. Later, he found eyeless loach in Wuwu, Guangxi. An old blind loach was found in Yunnan in 1978. So far, 21 species of cave fish have been recorded in China, of which 1 species are distributed in Hunan, 4 species in Guizhou, 9 species in Guangxi and 7 species in Yunnan. Generally, there is one kind of hole, and it has not been found that there is a cross-provincial distribution of the same species.
Blind fish
Second, foreign cave fish species
It is found in three species of limestone cavefish in the United States, namely the brach perch, the rose perch and the perch. There are 3 species of whiskered wagtails in caves native to Cuba and Judah. The Mexican cyprinid is a domestic ornamental fish. Hagfish native to Africa. Catfish from certain families in the United States , Mexico , South America and Africa are also cavefish.
United States: Hawker perch, rose perch, hole perch
Cuba: Whiskered wren
Mexico: Mexican lisboa, Mexican catfish
Africa: African blind cichlid, Congolese blind spiny loach, blind naked catfish, weevilfish
3. Chinese cave fish species
China is the country with the richest diversity of cave fish species in the world, ranking first in the world in species diversity. There are 130 active species, of which 69 are typical cave fish. The vast majority of cave fish in China are distributed in Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou. According to the whole or part of the life history needs to be completed in a dark cave or groundwater environment, Chinese scholars divide cave fish into typical cave fish, atypical cave fish and occasional cave fish. Chinese cave fish are mainly based on plateau loach, ridge loach, goldenrod and catfish.
Plateau loach genus
There are about 26 species of highland loach caves. The Yangtze, Pearl and Red River systems all have their distribution, of which the Xijiang River system in the Pearl River Basin is the gathering place for most cave groups, of which 27 species are distributed in Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi, and 2 species are from Chongqing and Hunan respectively.
Red-blind highland loach
Cave-like highland loach is characterized as follows:
Complete degeneration of eye clearing;
Lack of scales and pigments, red blood on the surface of the body;
Pectoral 10, dorsal fin 8, ventral fin 5, fin 6, caudal fin;
The horns of the mouth must be the longest in the genus Plateau Loach;
The fins are transparent, with the pectoral fin extending back to 2/3 of the pectoral fin to the beginning of the ventral fin;
The dorsal and ventral fins start opposite each other; the posterior chamber of the bladder is well developed and the swelling is free membranous.
Genus Goldenrod
The genus is endemic to China and is also a representative taxon of Cave fish in China, mainly distributed in the karst region of southwest China. Fish of this genus have certain cave habits, but the phenotypic diversity is extremely high, and some all-cave species have distinct cave characteristics, such as transparent, blind, etc., and some surface species are similar to ordinary fish.
Cave goldline catfish
Genus Loach
Most are found in Guangxi, China. It is a representative species of cave fish in Guangxi, such as Flathead Ridge Loach, Eyeless Ridge Loach, Spotted Ridge Loach, Guan'an Ridge Loach, Luocheng Ridge Loach, Hou Fin Ridge Loach, Fork tail Ridge Loach, Transparent Ridge Loach, Small-eyed Ridge Loach, Large Scale Ridge Loach, etc.
Loach
Other species of cave fish
Cave catfish
catfish
Long-bodied heterocephalus
Heteroceros
The more catfish
Regional distribution and species list of cave fish in China
1. Hunan cave fish species
2. Yunnan cave fish species
No-eye goldenrod: produced in Yiliang
Transparent gold thread catfish: produced in Luxi
Rhinoceros goldenrod: produced in Luoping
Naked-bellied hagfish: produced in Jianshui
Old blind plateau loach: produced in an old one
Stone forest blind plateau loach: produced in Lunan
Loach of Yunnan Plateau: Produced in Yiliang
3. Guizhou cave fish species
There are 34 species of cave fish typical of southern and southwestern Guizhou.
There are 20 species of goldenrod
There are 8 species in the genus Plateau Loach
There are 5 species in the genus Loach
There is 1 species in the genus Paraquat.
13 species to be determined.
4. Guangxi cave fish species
Guangxi is the province with the largest distribution of cave fish in China. There are 60 species in 4 families and 12 genera. There are 18 species of blind fish and 10 new species. The composition of cave fish in Guangxi is dominated by loach and carps, of which the carp family goldenrod is the most diverse. Guangxi has established an autonomous region-level nature reserve for rare fish in Lingyun Cave. This is the first nature reserve in China with rare cave fish as the main object of protection. The main cave fish species in the nature reserve are duck-billed golden-lined catfish, small-eyed golden-lined catfish, Lingyun golden-threaded catfish, Lingyun Yunnan loach, Lingyun flat loach and so on. There are also loach and catfish.
Subfamily Loach
Buccal scaled loach
Flat fruit heterophylla loach, new species
Transparent interloid loach
Zheng's striped loach
Posterior fin Yunnan loach
Long-whiskered Yunnan loach
Jingxi Yunnan loach
White lotus Yunnan loach, new species
Forktail loach
Transparent loach
Loach with small eyes
Loach of the Great Scaly Ridge
Humpback loach, a new species
Weak-bearded loach, a new species
Duanling loach, a new species
East Lanling loach, new species
Eyeless loach
Spotted loach
Lo Cheng Ling Loach
Guan'an ridge loach
Hindfin blind paraquatch
Lingyun plateau loach
Nandan Plateau loach
Albacore highland loach
Tenga Plateau Loach
Flower flat plateau loach
Large-headed highland loach
Loach of the Loch Plateau
Loach around the river plateau
Langping plateau loach, a new species
Fengshan plateau loach, a new species
Trekking highland loach, a new species
Subfamily Loach
No-eye protobacillus
Anterior ventral loach
Multi-scaled loach
Genus Dipterocarpus
Small-eyed double-whiskered loach
Cyprinid family (Goldenrod)
Gills with large scales
Guilin golden thread catfish
Ji's gold thread catfish
Ring River Golden Line Catfish
Yishan golden line catfish
Short-bodied gold-lined catfish
Short-whiskered golden-threaded catfish
Long-bearded golden-threaded catfish
East Lanjin line catfish
Lingyun golden thread catfish
Nine-polder terrier
Ma Shan full line catfish
High-shouldered gold-lined catfish
Big-eyed goldenrod
Small-scale gold-lined catfish
Multi-spotted full-line catfish
Curved-backed gold-backed catfish
Tianlin golden thread catfish
Duck-billed gold-threaded catfish
Fork-backed gold-lined catfish
Taming the golden ray
Jingxi golden thread catfish
Lolou golden line catfish
Genus Heterocephalus
Long-bearded heterogeneous carp
Fourth, some cave fish at home and abroad are highlighted
1. An old blind loach
Commonly known as blind fish. Endemic to China, it is found only in the underground rivers of the old Kafang plantain basket in Yunnan, China. Grade II protected animal in Yunnan Province. The body is long, the body is bare and scaleless, and there are no eyes. When alive, the body looms white, translucent, visible reddish spine, gill cover is transparent, each fin is transparent, the developed tentacles are radially stretched, the nose flap is erect, as if monitoring the dynamics of the environment at any time, very sensitive to the surrounding vibrations, once touching the water, it quickly absconds. Due to long-term living in the dark environment underground, the eyes degenerate and do not respond to light. Rely on developed tentacles to explore plankton in the water, swallow aquatic insects, plankton, etc.
2. Loach of the Western Plateau
In September 2013, a new species of blind plateau loach was discovered in Xiyu County of the Hongshui River system, and named the Western Loach after its collection site. The height of the eye degenerates into a small eye spot, the dorsal fin starts before the beginning of the ventral fin, the distance from the snout end is close to the base of the caudal fin, the tail stalk is slender, the body is smooth and scaleless, the posterior chamber of the bladder is developed, oblong oval, the intestine is short, and folded in a Z-shaped shape behind the stomach.
Loach of the Western Plateau
3. Mexican carp
Also known as blind fish, the Mexican blind eye fish genus. It is a very beautiful ornamental fish, with a body length of about 8 cm, covered with bright silver scales, and all the fins are creamy. Mexican carp is famous not because it is not this species that lives in shallow water, but because of their close relatives, another eccentric species that lives deep in mesoamerican limestone caves. About tens of thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the blind fish were carried by the current to the underground caves with little or no light, and as the long years passed, its eyes degenerated due to uselessness and became today's blind fish. Food is scarce and oxygen is scarce in caves, so carp must learn to save energy, and blindness can greatly reduce its energy consumption.
Mexican lisboth
Mexican catfish
Cave species and pictures
No-eye gill