Caves and their Faunas in Florida and South Georgia 13 



There are no reports of troglobites being recovered from especially 

 deep wells such as those reported in the San Antonio Pool of the 

 Edwards aquifer, Texas (blind catfishes, genera Satan and Trogloglanis, 

 at groundwater depths between 305-582 m) (Cooper and Longley 1919a, 

 19796). The deepest record of a Florida troglobite is for Procambarus 

 orcinus (and possibly Procambarus horsti) at Wakulla Springs at about 

 100-m water depth. Other depth records include 67.6 m (231 ft) for 

 Procambarus leitheuseri at Eagle's Nest Sink (Hernando County); 

 9 m (28.8 ft) for Procambarus milleri at the well northeast of Home- 

 stead; 44 m (150 ft) and 36.7 m (125 ft) for Procambarus pallidus at 

 Fort Clark Church well and Hornsby Sink, respectively (Alachua 

 County); 67.6 m (231 ft) for Troglocambarus maclanei at Eagle's Nest 

 Sink (Hernando County); 26.4 m (80 ft) for Cambarus cryptodytes at 

 Hole-in-Wall (Jackson County); and 60.8 m (200 feet) for Haideotriton 

 wallacei at the Albany, Georgia, well. 



Franz and Lee (1982) reasoned that limestones covered with 

 thick layers of unconsolidated marine or aeolian sediments lack sufficient 

 food imput to sponsor colonizing organisms. However, recent discoveries 

 of certain colonial bacteria in a few underwater caves might provide 

 limited grazing for troglobitic crustaceans (Hobbs and Franz 1992). 



The most cavernous parts within the study region are the mature 

 karst areas in western Alachua and Marion counties, eastern Citrus, 

 and northcentral Jackson County, Florida. The current list maintained 

 by the Florida Speleological Society for this four-county area includes 

 430 of 630 caves reported from Florida (Al Krause, personal communica- 

 tion, Florida Speleological Society). Caves in mature karst areas tend 

 to have portions of their passages above the local water table. As a 

 result many of the larger caves are inhabited by cave-dependent bats 

 which supply large quantities of guano to fuel the biotic system. 

 Above-water caves in the Citrus, Marion, and Jackson counties tend 

 to be shallow and have meandering passages and multiple entrances, 

 whereas many in Alachua County are deeper and have vertical shafts 

 as entrances that require technical climbing equipment to negotiate. 

 Some of the Alachua entrance holes are over 17.6 m (50 ft) deep. 

 Speleothem development is rare in most Florida caves, although some 

 caves in Citrus, Marion, and Jackson counties have interesting displays. 



Saturated riverine karsts are developed along portions of the 

 Choctawhatchee, (western) Econfina, Chipola, Flint (Georgia), St. Marks- 

 Wakulla, Wacissa, Suwannee, and St. Johns rivers and their tributaries. 

 Caves within these karsts have little or no dry passage. Access to 

 them is usually through spring outlets, spring-siphons, or water-filled 

 sinkholes. 



