32 
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 Lmifuga snhterraneiis and L. dentatus.-\ 
These fishes having the broad, flattened, fleshj^ 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 Ambtyopsis. 
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 
probabA the nearest fresh water relative of the Cuban fish, but 
Fig. 1. 
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 Ambl3"opsis 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 
^Meraoi'ias Sobre la Historia Natural de la Isla de Cuba, por Felipe Poey. Tomo 2, 
pp. 95-114. 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 fi’om L. suhter- 
raneus. 
