Texas Blind Salamander Eurycea Rathbuni #5
by Dante Fenolio
Title
Texas Blind Salamander Eurycea Rathbuni #5
Artist
Dante Fenolio
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The Texas Blind Salamander (Eurycea rathbuni), is an obligate inhabitant of groundwater. This species only lives in the Edwards Aquifer and is known from sites in a small region of the middle of the state. Excessive removal of groundwater and contamination of the resource threatens this species with intensive agricultural activities taking place on the surface above the Edwards Aquifer. The USFWS lists the species as endangered. The suite of characters associated with life below ground are readily observable in this species with a decrease in pigment, no eyes, a flattened and spade shaped head, and neoteny (reproductive capability in a larval body form). The San Antonio Zoo’s Center for Conservation & Research is working to develop methods for the captive reproduction of the species. This individual was photographed in a conservation breeding lab, 2018.
Uploaded
December 1st, 2019
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Viewed 708 Times - Last Visitor from San Antonio, TX on 03/28/2024 at 5:13 PM
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