Spring Cavefish

Spring Cavefish have been frolicking in spring runs most of the year year feeding on flatworms and amphipods but in the winter they heed nature's urgings and disappear underground to seek out mates and produce the next generation. These mysterious little three inch fish will spend the next three months in absolute darkness deep underground.

While not exactly rare these extremely uncommon fish are limited by their habitat to springs and spring runs and so are extremely vulnerable to changes due to surface development and pollution. Reaching a maximum length of just three inches (most adults are much smaller) these little fish are easily overlooked since they spend the daylight hours of their surface tenure hidden under rocks and leaves. They're also occasionally pumped up from newly bored wells, so perhaps they're more common than we realize.

Offsite Links:

• Southeast Missouri Port Authority, Spring Cave Fish in Missouri

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