The blind cave eel (Ophisternon candidum) is a species of fish in the Synbranchidae family. It is endemic to subterranean waters in the Cape Range, Australia. Like other cave adapted animals such as Milyeringa (the only other vertebrates restricted to subterranean waters in Australia), the blind cave eel is entirely blind and lacks pigmentation. It is listed as vulnerable under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Reaching a length of 40 cm (16 in), it is the longest known cavefish.
Famous quotes containing the words blind and/or cave:
“The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, skepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“If the sea were ink
For the words of my Lord,
the sea would be spent before the Words of my Lord are spent.”
—Qur’An. The Cave 18:109, ed. Arthur J. Arberry (1955)