THE BLIND FISHES OF CUBAN CAVES. 



The fishes which in a general way, -so far as blindness, tactile 

 sense and mode of life are concerned, come the nearest to the blind 

 fishes of the Mammoth Cave, are those described by Prof. Poey* 

 under the names of Lucifuga subterraneus- and L. dentatus^ 

 These fishes having the broad, flattened, fleshy head, with minute 

 cilia, without external eyes, and inhabiting caves so similar in 

 structure to the Mammoth Cave, make a comparison of them with 

 the fishes of the Mammoth Cave most interesting. This is greatly 

 enhanced by the fact that the Cuban fishes belong to a family of 

 essentially marine habit, quite far removed from Amblyopsis. 

 The fresh water ling (Lota), belonging to the same great group 

 of fishes (though to a distinct family or subfamily) containing .the 

 cod on the one hand and the Cuban blind fish on the other, is 

 probably the nearest fresh water relative of the Cuban fish, but 



Fig. 1. 



Blind Fish (Stygicola dentatus) from Caves iu Cuba. 



the nearest representative yet known is the marine genus Brotula, 

 one species of which is found in the Caribbean Sea. 



In the Cuban blind fish we find ciliary appendages on the 

 head and body quite distinctly developed, evidently of the same 

 character as those of Amblyopsis and answering the purpose of 

 tactile organs. These cilia are in the form of small, but 'plainly 

 visible, protuberances (reminding one of the single fleshy protu- 

 berance over the opercular opening just back of the head in Ambly- 

 opsis). There are eight of these on top of the head of a speci- 

 men I hastily examined, received from Prof. Poey by the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology, and quite a number arranged in three 



*Memorias Sobre la Historia Natural de la Isla de Cuba, por Felipe Poey. Tomo 2, 

 pp. 95-llt. Pis. 9, 10, 11. Habana, 1856-8. 



fThis species was afterwards referred to the genus Stygicola Gill, on account of the 

 presence of palatine teeth which are wanting in the other species. There are also sev- 

 eral other good characters, to judge from the figures of the head, skull and brain given 

 by Poey, that would warrant the reference of the fish to a distinct genus from L. suiter- 



