Species Fact Profile: Texas Blind Salamander (Eurycea rathbuni)

Texas Blind Salamander

Eurycea rathbuni (Stejneger, 1896)

Range: Edwards Plateau (Texas)
Habitat: Underwater Cave
Diet: Aquatic Invertebrates
Social Grouping: Asocial
Reproduction: Breed year round (no seasonal cues in caves), females court males by rubbing up against them, males deposit spermatophore (packet of sperm) on a rock for the female to pick up
Lifespan: 10 Years
Conservation Status: IUCN Vulnerable

• Body length 8-14 centimeters; broad, flat head and snout; limbs are very long and slender.  Entirely white, except for the red external gills used to extract oxygen from the water
• Like many cave-dwellers, the Texas blind salamander is blind - the only eyes it has are two small black dots, under the skin
• Texas blind salamanders are neotenic, which means that they do not undergo metamorphosis.  The adults resemble the juvenile forms of other salamanders.
• Extreme cave dwellers, they only ever come above the surface when their water-source pushes them there; the first specimens were discovered when they were drawn up by a newly constructed well in 1898
• Prey is detected by moving the head back and fort in the water, sensing changes in water pressure caused by the movements of prey
• Threatened by their very small geographic range and the pollution/overuse of the aquifers where they live