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Southern Cavefish
Typhlichthys subterraneus
About This Fish

The Southern Cavefish has a disjunct distribution occurring in the Ozark Mountains in Missouri and Arkansas, the lower Ohio River Drainage, including the Tennessee and Cumberland river drainages in Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and a few isolated populations in the Mobile Basin in Alabama. They live over a variety of substrates in underground pools and streams. Southern Cavefish are completely adapted for life in total darkness, lacking eyes, pigment, and pelvic fins, as well as having extensive sensory canals and papillae to detect water movement to navigate, find prey, and avoid predation.

Typhlichthys subterraneus Southern Cavefish
Amblyopsidae >
Typhlichthys
Alabama (AL), Mississippi (MS), Tennessee (TN), Kentucky (KY), Georgia (GA)
Middle Coosa – 03150106, Upper Cumberland-Lake Cumberland – 05130103, Obey – 05130105, Upper Cumberland-Cordell Hull Reservior – 05130106, Collins – 05130107, Caney – 05130108, Lower Cumberland-Old Hickory Lake – 05130201, Stones – 05130203, Lower Cumberland – 05130205, Red – 05130206, Middle Tennessee-Chickamauga – 06020001, Sequatchie – 06020004, Guntersville Lake – 06030001, Wheeler Lake – 06030002, Upper Elk – 06030003, Pickwick Lake – 06030005, Bear – 06030006, Lower Tennessee-Beech – 06040001, Upper Duck – 06040002, Buffalo – 06040004, Kentucky Lake – 06040005

Literature

Burress, P.B., E.D. Burress, and J.W. Armbruster. 2017. Body shape variation within the southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus (Percopsiformes: Amblyopsidae). Zoomorphology, 136(3), 365-377. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pamela_Hart3/publication/317671587_Body_shape_variation_within_the_Southern_Cavefish_Typhlichthys_subterraneus_Amblyopsidae_Percopsiformes/links/5b0c46a6aca2725783ec3deb/Body-shape-variation-within-the-Southern-Cavefish-Typhlichthys-subterraneus-Amblyopsidae-Percopsiformes.pdf

Niemiller, M.L., G.O. Graening, D.B. Fenolio, J.C. Godwin, J.R. Cooley, W.D. Pearson, B.M. Fitzpatrick and T.J. Near. 2013. Doomed before they are described? The need for conservation assessments of cryptic species complexes using an amblyopsid cavefish (Amblyopsidae: Typhlichthys) as a case study. Biodiversity and Conservation, 22(8), 1799-1820. http://www.speleobiology.com/niemiller/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/1_NIEMILLER_ETAL_2013D.PDF

Niemiller, M.L., T.J. Near, and B.M. Fitzpatrick. 2012. Delimiting species using multilocus data: diagnosing cryptic diversity in the southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus (Teleostei: Amblyopsidae). Evolution: International Journal of Organic Evolution, 66(3), 846-866. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01480.x

Romero, A., M.S. Connor, and G.L. Vaughan. 2010. Population status of the Southern Cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus in Arkansas. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, 64(1), 106-110. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1385&context=jaas

Romero Jr, A., and M. Conner. 2007. Status Report for the Southern Cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus in Arkansas. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1313&context=bb_pubs

Lewis, J.J. 2002. Conservation assessment for southern cavefish (Typhlichthys subterraneus). Prepared for USDA Forest Service, Eastern Region, Mark Twain National Forest, Indiana, USA.

Noltie, D.B., and C.M. Wicks. 2001. 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. In The biology of hypogean fishes (pp. 171-194). Springer, Dordrecht. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Douglas_Noltie/publication/226091106_How_Hydrogeology_has_Shaped_the_Ecology_of_Missouri%27s_Ozark_Cavefish_Amblyopsis_Rosae_and_Southern_Cavefish_Typhlichthys_Subterraneus_Insights_on_the_Sightless_from_understanding_the_Underground/links/56d483ef08aefd177b0f5a35/How-Hydrogeology-has-Shaped-the-Ecology-of-Missouris-Ozark-Cavefish-Amblyopsis-Rosae-and-Southern-Cavefish-Typhlichthys-Subterraneus-Insights-on-the-Sightless-from-understanding-the-Underground.pdf

Bergstrom, D.E. 1997. The Phylogeny and Historical Biogeography of Missouri's Amblyopis Rosae (Ozark Cavefish) and Typhlichthys Subterraneus (Southern Cavefish) (Doctoral dissertation, University of Missouri-Columbia).

Green, S.M., and A. Romero. 1997. Responses to light in two blind cave fishes (Amblyopsis spelaea and Typhlichthys subterraneus)(Pisces: Amblyopsidae). Environmental Biology of Fishes, 50(2), 167-174. http://spark.siue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/bio_fac/article/1306/type/native/&path_info=

Schubert, A.L.S., and D.B. Noltie. 1995. Laboratory studies of substrate and microhabitat selection in the southern cavefish (Typhlichthys subterraneus Girard). Ecology of Freshwater Fish, 4(4), 141-151. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0633.1995.tb00026.x

Schubert, A.L., C.D. Nielsen, and D.B. Noltie. 1993. Habitat use and gas bubble disease in southern cavefish (Typhlichthys subterraneus). International journal of speleology, 22(1), 5. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1365&context=ijs

Schubert, A.L.S. 1993. Microhabitat selection and feeding in the southern cavefish (Typhlichthys subterraneus) (Doctoral dissertation, University of Missouri-Columbia).

Jones, S.R. 1985. A range revision for western populations of the southern cavefish Typhlichthys subterraneus (Amblyopsidae). American Midland Naturalist, 413-415. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2425592?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Mayden, R.L., and F.B. Cross. 1983. Reevaluation of Oklahoma records of the southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus Girard (Amblyopsidae). The Southwestern Naturalist, 28(4), 471-473. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3670836?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Cooper, J.E., and D.P. Beiter. 1972. The southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus (Pisces: Amblyopsidae), in the eastern Mississippian Plateau of Kentucky. Copeia, 1972(4), 879-881. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1442755?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Cooper, J.E., A. Iles. 1971. The southern cavefish Typhlichthys subterraneus, at the southeastern periphery of its range. National Speleological Society Bulletin, 33, 45-49. http://w.caves.org/pub/journal/PDF/V33/v33n1-Cooper.htm

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This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, MA-30-15-0420-15.