''Milyeringa veritas'' (commonly known as the blind gudgeon) is a species of fish in the family Milyeringidae. It is endemic to groundwater and

anchialine An anchialine system (, from Greek ''ankhialos'', "near the sea") is a landlocked body of water with a subterranean connection to the ocean. Depending on its formation, these systems can exist in one of two primary forms: pools or caves. The primary ...

systems in caves in the

Cape Range The Cape Range is a small subrange of the Kitimat Ranges, located on the southern end of Calvert Island, British Columbia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic O ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Like other cave-adapted fish, the blind gudgeon is entirely blind and lacks pigmentation, using sensory papillae on its head and body to move around and find food. It has a reduced number of scales on its body and the head is almost scaleless. It reaches a standard length of . It is listed as vulnerable under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It is an omnivorous species which feeds on feeds on algae and possibly also

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

, as well as invertebrates. Invertebrates consumed by ''M. veritas'' include ''

Stygiocaris ''Stygiocaris'' is a genus of shrimp from caves in the North West Cape and Barrow Island (Western Australia), Barrow Island, Western Australia. ''Stygiocaris'' is highly troglobite, troglobitic, being transparency and translucency, transparent, ...

sp.'', aquatic insect larvae such as those of

caddis flies The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the ba ...

and non aquatic invertebrates which accidentally fall into the water such as isopods, ants and cockroaches. When the gut contents have been sampled 10% of the identifiable gut contents were ''Stygiocaris'' and 70% were terrestrial species, despite this species being restricted to caves. They are often observed hanging still in the water column or resting on ledges in the cave walls, behaviours which they also display when kept in aquaria, but can move quickly to avoid capture if threatened, for example when catching them with a net is attempted. The generic name is taken from Milyering which is southwest of Vlamingh Head in the North West Cape of Western Australia, the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

, and the

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

is Latin ''veritas'' meaning truth an allusion to a quote attributed to the Ancient Greek

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

Democritus (c.460 — c.370 BC) "Truth lies at the bottom of a well, the depth of which, alas! gives but little hope of release.”

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2340925 Milyeringa Vulnerable fauna of Australia Fish described in 1945 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Cave fish