THE CUBAN BLIND FISHES. 1 



HISTORY OF THE WORK. 



The Cuban blind fishes were discovered by the surveyor D. Tranquilino San- 

 dalio de Noda. They were described as Lucifuga subterrancus and Lucifuga 

 dentatus by Poey, in his "Memorias sobre la Historia Natural de la Isle de Cuba," 

 tomo 2, pp. 95-114, 1856. Poey recorded them from the cave Cajio, near La Guira 

 de Helena, La Industria, half-way between Alquizar and Guanimar, the Cave of 

 Ashton, the Cave of the Dragon, on the cattle farm San Isidro, near Las Mangas, 

 La Concordia, a cave near the bee house of the coffee plantation La Paz, and a well 

 near the tavern Frias. 



Poey stated that Lucifuga dentatus from some of the caves had vestiges of eyes, 

 while those from others were without the least vestige of eyes. Poey later added 

 some notes on their distribution in his "Enumeratio Piscium Cubensium." In 

 1863 Gill (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1863, p. 252) recognized Lucifuga dentatus 

 as the type of a distinct genus, which he called Stygicola. 



No additions were made to the knowledge of these fishes until March, 1902, 

 when I visited Cuba with Mr. Oscar Riddle expressly to secure material for the 

 study of their eyes. We visited several of the caves mentioned by Poey and many 

 others, securing 119 specimens of both species. One of the specimens contained 

 four young, making in all 123 specimens. The discovery that the blind fishes are 

 viviparous, and that the young have fairly well developed eyes, made it seem very 

 desirable to secure a full series of embryos and also if possible to rear some of them 

 in the light. 



The expenses of this trip were defrayed in part by a grant from the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science and in part from subsidiary work on 

 the fresh-water fishes of the western end of the island. The results as far as pub- 

 lished are included in an article on the "Fresh-water Fishes of Western Cuba" 

 (Bull. U. S. Fish Com., 1902, pp. 211-236, plates 19-21, 1903). 



Grant No. 64 of the Carnegie Institution made additional work in the field 

 possible. It was planned to spend the entire breeding season near the caves and 

 rear young in the light, but for reasons that will appear the grant was exhausted in 

 apparently determining that these fishes do not breed in the places visited. 



My trip to Cuba in March, 1902, made it seem probable that the blind fishes 

 give birth to their young in February. Many recently born young of Lucifuga 

 were obtained at that time, and one of the females caught contained young nearly 

 ready to be born. The California viviparous fishes, with which I had extensive 

 experience 2 and which give birth to young in a similar degree of maturity, carry their 

 young about 5 months. On these premises I concluded that early stages of the 

 young of the blind fishes should be found during the middle of September. Allow- 

 ing a month for the probably more rapid development in the tropics, I visited the 

 caves the latter part of October and first part of November. 



1 The specimens were numbered as they were collected, i, 2, etc., and when referred to are given by their serial 

 number. 



2 On the viviparous fishes of the Pacific coast of North America, Bull. U. S. Fish Com., 1892, pp. 381-478, 

 27 plates, 1894. 



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