The cave catfish (''Clarias cavernicola'') is a
critically endangered species of
airbreathing catfish.
[ Listed as Critically Endangered (CR B1+2c, E v2.3)] This
cavefish is only known to live in the Aigamas cave,
Otjozondjupa region,
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
.
It has also been reported from the nearby
Dragon's Breath Cave
Dragon's Breath Cave was discovered by Roger Ellis during a caving expedition to the area in 1986. The cave is located northwest of Grootfontein in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is named for the moist air rising from its entrance which r ...
. The golden cave catfish lack pigmentation and are up to 16.1 cm (6.3 inches) in
standard length
Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology.
Overall length
* Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...
.
[ They have very small eyes that are covered with skin, and are probably effectively blind.][ They feed on ]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 ...
and invertebrates that fall into the lake in which they live. The population is estimated at 200–400 individuals.[
It is the only known cavefish in mainland ]Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...
.[Aldemaro, R., editor (2001). The Biology of Hypogean Fishes. Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes. ]
See also
*Caves of Namibia Namibia, a country in south-western Africa, has a total of 124 known caves, 41 of which are situated in the Otjozondjupa Region.
In several of these caves research has been done and published in various journals, but of a variety of caves the loca ...
References
External links
Image at the National Museum of Namibia
Endemic fauna of Namibia
Clarias
Cave fish
Fish of Africa
Taxa named by Ethelwynn Trewavas
Fish described in 1936
{{Clariidae-stub