Scientists Find New Fish Genus After 30 Years of Monitoring Under Alabama Army Base
Updated
Updated · The Daily Beast · Aug 13
Scientists Find New Fish Genus After 30 Years of Monitoring Under Alabama Army Base
3 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · Aug 13
Summary
Demogorgonichthys arcanus—an eyeless, colorless cavefish with a faint electric-blue cast—was discovered in Bobcat Cave beneath Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.
At least 30 years of quarterly monitoring had not revealed it, making the find unusually striking in a heavily watched cave under a U.S. Army base.
Researchers said the fish independently evolved blindness and loss of pigment, separate from the Southern Cavefish that lives in the same cave, and did so millions of years apart.
Lead researcher Matthew Niemiller said finding a new freshwater fish genus in eastern North America was akin to discovering a new kind of big cat, underscoring how incomplete species inventories remain.