Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The biology of hypogean fishes

  • Book
  • © 2001

Overview

Editors:
  1. Aldemaro Romero
    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes (DEBF, volume 21)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (28 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages 1-6
    Download chapter PDF

  2. An introduction to the special volume on the biology of hypogean fishes

    1. An introduction to the special volume on the biology of hypogean fishes

      • Aldemaro Romero
      Pages 7-12

  3. It’s a wonderful hypogean life: a guide to the troglomorphic fishes of the world

    1. It’s a wonderful hypogean life: a guide to the troglomorphic fishes of the world

      • Aldemaro Romero, Kelly M. Paulson
      Pages 13-41

  4. Scientists prefer them blind: the history of hypogean fish research

    1. Scientists prefer them blind: the history of hypogean fish research

      • Aldemaro Romero
      Pages 43-71

  5. Nontroglobitic fishes in Bruffey-Hills Creek Cave, West Virginia, and other caves worldwide

    1. Nontroglobitic fishes in Bruffey-Hills Creek Cave, West Virginia, and other caves worldwide

      • William J. Poly
      Pages 73-83

  6. Anatomy, physiology and behavior

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 85-86
      Download chapter PDF

    2. The mechanosensory lateral line system of the hypogean form of Astyanax fasciatus

      • John C. Montgomery, Sheryl Coombs, Cindy F. Baker
      Pages 87-96

    3. Metabolic rate and natural history of Ozark cavefish, Amblyopsis rosae, in Logan Cave, Arkansas

      • Ginny L. Adams, James E. Johnson
      Pages 97-105

    4. Locomotory responses of the cave cyprinid Phreatichthys andruzzii to chemical signals from conspecifics and related species: new findings

      • Roberto Berti, Luca Zorn
      Pages 107-114

    5. Responses to light in epigean and hypogean populations of Gambusia affinis (Cyprinodontiformes: Poeciliidae)

      • Michele Maria Camassa
      Pages 115-118

    6. Temporal organization in locomotor activity of the hypogean loach, Nemacheilus evezardi, and its epigean ancestor

      • Atanu Kumar Pati
      Pages 119-129

  7. Ecology and conservation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 131-132
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Ecology of subterranean fishes: an overview

      • Eleonora Trajano
      Pages 133-160

    3. Population biology and growth of Ozark cavefish in Logan Cave National Wildlife Refuge, Arkansas

      • J. Zack Brown, James E. Johnson
      Pages 161-169

    4. Threatened fishes of the world: Ophisternon infernale (Hubbs, 1938) (Synbranchidae)

      • Roger Medina-González, Graham Proudlove, Lizbeth Chumba-Segura, Thomas Iliffe
      Pages 170-170

    5. How hydrogeology has shaped the ecology of Missouri’s Ozark cavefish, Amblyopsis rosae, and southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus: insights on the sightless from understanding the underground

      • Douglas B. Noltie, Carol M. Wicks
      Pages 171-194

    6. Habitat and population data of troglobitic armored cave catfish, Ancistrus cryptophthalmus Reis, 1987, from central Brazil (Siluriformes: Loricariidae)

      • Eleonora Trajano
      Pages 195-200

    7. The conservation status of hypogean fishes

      • Graham S. Proudlove
      Pages 201-213

    8. Threatened fishes of the world: Ogilbia pearsei (Hubbs, 1938) (Bythitidae)

      • Graham Proudlove, Roger Medina-González, Lizbeth Chumba-Segura, Thomas Iliffe
      Pages 214-214

    9. Status of the federally endangered Alabama cavefish, Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni (Amblyopsidae), in Key Cave and surrounding caves, Alabama

      • Bernard R. Kuhajda, Richard L. Mayden
      Pages 215-222
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

Hypogean (cave, artesian) fishes have fascinated researchers even before they were described in the scientific literature in 1842. Since then, a number of scientists have used them to justify their own evolutionary ideas, from neo-Lamarckism to neo-Darwinism, from neutral evolution to selectionist approaches. Research in recent years has shown that these fishes are much more complex in their adaptations to the subterranean environment than previously believed: there are those with features expected from living in total darkness (complete blindness and depigmentation) and poor in nutrients (extremely low metabolic rates); others differ very little, if any, from their epigean (surface) ancestors in their morphology and physiology (but not so in their behavior). Some of them even live in nutrient-rich environments. Actually, one of the most overlooked facets of these animals is that there are more species of hypogean fishes without troglomorphisms (blindness, depigmentation) than with troglomorphic ones. The study of these apparently `unadapted' fishes is providing new insights into our understanding of the evolution of phenotypic characters, founding effect, behavioral, and physiological adaptations. The 86 species of troglomorphic fishes described so far belong to 18 different families, many of which would hardly fit the notion that they were 'preadapted' to conquer the underground environment. Further, many troglomorphic `species' show very little genotypic differentiation when compared with their putative ancestors, indicating that massive phenotype changes can be achieved via little genetic reorganization, a reorganization that mostly affects regulatory genes. These and many other topics are discussed in this volume containing 29 papers, written by 41 authors from 9 countries. Hopefully, this volume will convince many other researchers that hypogean fishes represent a unique opportunity to study a concept in evolutionary biology that is only superficially understood: convergent evolution.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation