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Here we review the thirty year recovery effort and conservation status of the Ozark cavefish, Amblyopsis rosae. We summarized the historic and current range of the species, and report county range extensions for both A. rosae and its confamilial Typhlichthys subterraneus. Ozark cavefish survey data spanning almost a century were analyzed for temporal trends using the Mann-Kendall Test/Sen’s Slope Estimator Method. Results were inconclusive because variance was high and the majority of data sets were not sufficiently large to detect a trend. However, the two largest populations (Cave Springs Cave and Logan Cave, Benton Co., Arkansas) have stabilizing or increasing survey counts. While the number of active cavefish sites has decreased over 50% since 1990, the number of surveyed individuals has not. Reasons for endangerment were reanalyzed since federal listing; the primary threat has shifted from overcollection to habitat degradation. We analyzed the progress of recovery task implementation, and we critically evaluated the basis of delisting criteria. Recovery Task 1, the hydrogeologic delineation of subterranean habitats, is almost complete. Recovery Task 2 prescribes protection and management for Recovery Caves, and important progress has been made. Recovery Task 3 involves the development and implementation of monitoring programs in Recovery Caves. Several important studies have been performed, and indicate that many cavefish populations are experiencing chronic, low-level exposure to a suite of anthropogenic contaminants. Delisting conditions are largely unattainable as currently worded. We suggest that recovery criteria be amended such that habitat protection goals are attainable, that the list of Recovery Caves can be periodically updated, and that the recovery population goal is increased and distributed between more sites.

Laan, Richard Van Der, Eschmeyer, William N., Fricke, Ronald (2014): Family-group names of Recent fishes. Zootaxa 3882 (2): 1-230, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1

Explanations for the phenotypical features resulting from colonization of subterranean environments have always been a source of controversy. Although a great number of cave organisms are blind, they nevertheless display responses to light. The interpretation of this phototactic responsiveness in cave-dwelling animals may provide clues on the general issue of evolution of behavior in parallel with specialized structures. We studied the phototactic responses in two amblyopsid fishes of North America and found responses to light only in the species reported to have a functional pineal organ. Our findings are consistent with the hypotheses that (1) adaptation to the cave environment is a gradual process and (2) responsiveness to light in cave fishes may best be understood as a relict character, one that exists in an environment where it may never be expressed.

– The southern cavefish (Typhlichthys subterraneus Girard) is a small troglobitic fish found in a few disjunct populations in the central United States. Protecting and managing these populations requires a knowledge of southern cavefish microhabitat requirements, including their preference for substrate. We conducted tests of their preferences for cobble, gravel, pea gravel, and sand substrates in two-way and multiple choice experiments for extended periods using time-lapse video photography. Cobble proved to be the substrate these fish preferred to occur within. In nature, this preference may provide cavefish increased foraging opportunities and/or refuge from high flows associated with flooding. Our results indicate the need to (1) maintain coarse substrate as an integral part of cavefish habitats, and (2) direct cavefish censusing attempts towards such key areas.

��� Typhlichthys eigenmanni Hubbs,��� with no year of description and no characters distinguishing it from other blind cavefishes of the family Amplyopsidae from Missouri, was listed by Hubbs (1938:265) in a table. Typhlichthys eigenmanni Hubbs 1938 has subsequently been treated as a nomen nudum by Woods & Inger (1957), Pfleiger (1971), Eschmeyer (1998, 2006), Poly & Proudlove (2004), among others. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933 is an available name for a blind cavefish, and to draw attention to comparative anatomical characters of the central nervous system that may be used to distinguish among blind cavefish species and by which this name was made available. Harry Hayward Charlton was a professor in the Department of Anatomy, University of Missouri, Columbia, in the early 20th century. In 1933, he published a paper on the comparative anatomy of the optic tectum, the primary visual center of the brain, of two Missouri blind cavefish species that he referred to by the names Troglichthys rosae and Typhlichthys eigenmanni. The first species, the Ozark Cavefish, was described in the genus Typhlichthys and is now classified as Amplyopsis rosae (Eigenmann, 1898). Charlton was an unintentional author of the binominal Typhlichthys eigenmanni which he credited to Hubbs (Charlton, 1933:287, footnote 1): ���The description of this new subspecies has not yet been published, but Dr. Carl L. Hubbs, curator of fishes at the University of Michigan, in a personal communication, states that a full description will appear shortly, as indicated in the list of literature cited, and that he has named it Typhlichthys eigenmanni in honor of the late Doctor [Carl] Eigenmann.��� The literature cited by Charlton (1933) includes the following entry: ���Hubbs, Carl L. 1932. Studies of the fishes of the order Cyprinidontes [sic]. X. A new blind cave fish from Missouri. Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Mich. (in press).��� Hubbs���s numbered series on cyprinodontiform fishes appeared in a variety of publication outlets (see Miller, 1981), but none with this title. Hubbs never described Typhlichthys eigenmanni, but Charlton did, unintentionally, using comparative neuroanatomical characters. Characters ���The optic tectum and its related fiber tracts in blind fishes. A. Troglichthys rosae and Typhlichthys eigenmanni ��� is the title of Charlton���s (1933) paper on the comparison of the central nervous system of two species of blind cavefishes. Brains of eleven specimens identified as Typhlichthys eigenmanni were serially sectioned and stained with methylene blue, neutral red, and haematoxylin (for cells), and silver-stained (for nerves). Size of all of the specimens of both species that Charlton (1933:287) examined were approximately 30 to 65 mm in [total] length, ������ with Typhlichthys eigenmanni running just a little smaller on the average than Troglichthys rosae.��� Throughout the text, he used one or the other species as an example to describe certain characteristics which I interpret as general statements about blind cavefishes of the family Amblyopsidae. At least four explicit statements were made, however, that serve to distinguish Typhlichthys eigenmanni from other amblyopsids: 1) Optic Nerve With regard to the diameter of the optic nerve, Charlton (1933:292) noted that: ���In Amblyopsis spelaeus ���the optic nerve appears quite similar to that of Troglichthys rosae ��� In Typhlichthys eigenmanni, a comparable nerve is found. It is, however, somewhat smaller.��� 2) Tractus mesenchephalo-cerebellaris anterior The bundle of nerve fibers identified as the tractus mesencephalo-cerebellaris anterior ������arises not only from the optic tectum, but from the geniculate ganglion and pretectal nucleus������ (Charlton, 1933:300). The size of this tract was compared among blind fishes and other taxa by Charlton (1933:301) who reported that ������The largest tract studied was in Monocanthus [sic], while that of Microgadus and Anableps were only slightly smaller. Next came the two blind fishes, Typhlichthys having a tract somewhat larger than Troglichthys, and finally Clarius, where the cerebellar tract is about the same size or slightly smaller than in the blind forms.��� 3) Fibrae tectales nervi optici Charlton (1933:308) described the complex path of these fiber bundles: ���The caudal ascending bundle is accompanied by fibers���which turn caudally into the [optic] bulb at the point where the fibrae tectales nervi optici turn rostrally to join the anterior bundle. This description applies to both the blind fishes; the rostral bundle in Typhlichthys eigenmanni, however, seems to ascend in front of the nucleus dorsalis thalami instead of bending around its anterior pole.��� 4) Brachia tecti The brachia tecti are bundles of myelinated fibers that connect the corpus geniculatum laterale with the optic tectum (Meader, 1934:386). Charlton (1933:312) noted that ���The brachia are quite prominent in the blind fishes, being somewhat larger, however, in Troglichthys than in Typhlichthys.��� Thus, four characters were discussed that may be used to distinguish among blind cavefish species and by which Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933 was made available: 1) a relatively narrow optic nerve; 2) a relatively large tractus mesencephalocerebellaris anterior; 3) the rostral bundle of the fibrae tectales nervi optici ascending in front of the nucleus dorsali thalami as opposed to coursing around its anterior pole; and, 4) relatively small brachia tecti. Specimens Limited data on the eleven specimens of Typhlichthys eigenmanni used by Charlton (1933) was provided in his comparative brain study. Charlton (1933: 287) acknowledged a debt to ������Robert M. Snyder, Jr., who graciously permitted collections of Typhlichthys eigenmanni to be made in a cave situated upon his property.��� Snyder (1876-1937) was a well-known Kansas City businessman who lived in a mansion, known as Ha Ha Tonka Castle, Camden County, Missouri, now the site of a state park. Current location of the putative syntypes, histological preparations and the specimens from which they were prepared, if they are still extant, is unknown. Ralph G. Meader, studying the optic system of the soldierfish, Sargocentron vexillarium, for his Ph.D. at Yale in the early 1930s, may have used the specimens (Meader, 1934:365): "An opportunity has been afforded for comparison with many other species of teleosts through the deposit of Dr. Harry H. Charlton's collection of prepared teleost brains with the Department of Anatomy of the Yale School of Medicine." Efforts to date to locate the slides at Yale have been unsuccessful, however. This is not due to poor curatorial practices, but to the failure of authors to recognize the value of voucher material and to have it catalogued in appropriate repositories. Systematists have long recognized the value of voucher material, of course, and have encouraged colleagues to deposit material in museum collections. Unfortunately, the current trend, even in systematics journals, is to not publish this information, which some erroneously consider to be supplementary (see discussion in Funk, Hoch, Prather & Wagner, 2005)., Published as part of Lynne R. Parenti, 2006, Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933, an available name for a blind cavefish (Teleostei: Amblyopsidae), differentiated on the basis of characters of the central nervous system., pp. 55-59 in Zootaxa 1374 on pages 55-57

[[Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton]] Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933 was described inadvertently in a richly illustrated publication on the comparative anatomy of the central nervous system of blind cavefishes. Characters described by Charlton (1933) are sufficient to differentiate the species from Amblyopsis rosae (Eigenmann, 1898), with which he compared it in a detailed examination of the optic tectum, the primary visual center of the brain. These characters are: 1) a relatively narrow optic nerve, 2) a relatively large tractus mesencephalo-cerebellaris anterior; 3) the rostral bundle of the fibrae tectales nervi optici ascending in front of the nucleus dorsali thalami as opposed to coursing around its anterior pole; and, 4) relatively small brachia tecti. Efforts to locate Charlton���s type specimens of T. eigenmanni, likely histological slides, have not been successful. The type locality is Ha Ha Tonka State Park, Camden Co., Missouri. Putative topotypes are catalogued in collections of the University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology. Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933 is a subjective synonym of T. subterraneus Girard, 1859, the Southern Cavefish., Published as part of Lynne R. Parenti, 2006, Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933, an available name for a blind cavefish (Teleostei: Amblyopsidae), differentiated on the basis of characters of the central nervous system., pp. 55-59 in Zootaxa 1374 on page 55

Abbreviated species synonymy Typhlichthys subterraneus Girard, 1859 Typhlichthys subterraneus Girard, 1859: 63 (type locality: Kentucky, Warren Co.: from a well near Bowling Green; Syntypes: USNM 8563 [3]). Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933: 285-324; figs. 1?, 6, 9, 13-16, 21, 23 (type locality: Missouri, Camden Co.cave on the property of Robert M. Snyder, Jr [Ha Ha Tonka Castle], 11 syntypes, range ���somewhat less than��� 30 to 65 mm in length [whereabouts of types unknown]). Typhlichthys eigenmanni Hubbs, 1938: 265 (nomen nudum, available as Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933). Remarks: Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933, is treated as a subjective synonym of Typhlichthys subterraneus Girard, 1859, the Southern Cavefish, the name applied to blind amblyopsids in southeastern Missouri (see Mayden & Cross, 1983). Charlton���s (1933) figure 1 is identified as Typhlichthys eigenmanni in the text, but as Troglichthys rosae in the figure caption. See Poly & Proudlove (2004:4) for additional synonyms., Published as part of Lynne R. Parenti, 2006, Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933, an available name for a blind cavefish (Teleostei: Amblyopsidae), differentiated on the basis of characters of the central nervous system., pp. 55-59 in Zootaxa 1374 on page 58

I provide my retrospective and prospective views on adaptations of cave fishes. I emphasize the history of my insights into cave adaptation from 45 years of research using surface, cave-spring, and cave species of amblyopsid fishes. My approach has been to use natural experiments and to always consider multiple hypotheses. To clarify evolutionary adaptations, I show the importance of a broad comparative approach which includes studies of morphology, metabolic physiology, foraging behavior, life history, and ecology. And I show that the most important agents of selection, of darkness and attendant low food supply, are best understood in the context of rigor, variability, and predictability. I also present my insights from what I consider the most insightful contributions on deep-sea fishes. The contributions are those of Marshall in studies of morphology in relation to energy economy of pelagic and benthic species, Childress in studies of physiological and biochemical adaptations with depth for pelagic species, and Koslow in studies on population biology and life history of bathybenthic and benthic sea-mount species. Compared to caves, I suggest that the extremes of metabolic and life history adaptations of deep-sea fish are explained by a longer evolutionary history and a much greater habitat range, food supply, and predation risk. Finally, I take a retrospective view of what we have learned about cave fishes. I discuss possible evolutionary mechanisms that can explain the trends with increasing cave adaptation in amblyopsid fishes, especially progenesis and the pleiotropic effects of the stress resistance syndrome. Finally, based on insights from deep-sea fishes, and emerging new techniques, I suggest what cave fish biologists should do in the future.

Ozark cavefish, Amblyopsis rosae, is a threatened species endemic to the Springfield Plateau of the Ozark Highlands in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. One of the largest known Ozark cavefish populations, located in Logan Cave, Arkansas, was surveyed 25 times over a two-year period between 1993 and 1995. During the study, 147 Ozark cavefish > 30 mm (TL) were marked with visual implant tags and 140 Ozark cavefish were available for recapture; 68 were recaptured 189 times and the rest (72) were never recaptured. Individual Ozark cavefish persisted in Logan Cave for a relatively short time. Only 14% of 80 fish tagged during a previous study in 1992 were recaptured during this study, and half of all recaptured fish disappeared within three months. However, if a fish persisted for at least seven months in the cave, its probability of being recaptured over an additional year was high. Maximum persistence of a tagged fish was 28 months, suggesting these fish have a maximum life-span of 4–5 years. Growth averaged 0.6 mm per month, with maximum recorded growth of 6 mm per month and a maximum size of 65 mm TL. Smaller fish grew faster than larger fish but growth rates were sporadic, with several mid-sized fish (45–49 mm) showing little growth (0–3 mm year-1) while some fish > 50 mm grew up to 12 mm year-1. Most fish gained in length during April–October, the same period a maternity colony of gray bats occupied the cave. Gross Ozark cavefish movement over the study period ranged up to 1002 m, with a mean movement of 1.2 m day-1; movement was positively correlated with Ozark cavefish total length. Death seemed the most likely explanation for loss of tagged Ozark cavefish, including fish that emigrated out of the cave. Little up-stream movement was recorded between reaches and did not account for loss of tagged fish. Reproduction within the cave and immigration from the aquifer accounted for persistence of Ozark cavefish in Logan Cave.

An introduction to the special volume on the biology of hypogean fishes A. Romero. It's a wonderful hypogean life: a guide to the troglomorphic fishes of the world A. Romero, K.M. Paulson. Scientists prefer them blind: the history of hypogean fish research A. Romero. Nontroglobitic fishes in Bruffey-Hills Creek Cave, West Virginia, and other caves worldwide W.J. Poly. Part 1: Anatomy, physiology and behavior. The mechanosensory lateral line system of the hypogean form of Astyanax fasciatus J.C. Montgomery, et al. Metabolic rate and natural history of Ozark cavefish, Amblyopsis rosae, in Logan Cave, Arkansas G.L. Adams, J.E. Johnson. Locomotory responses of the dave cyprinid Phreatichthys andruzzii to Chemical signals from conspecifics and related species: new findings R. Berti, L. Zorn. Responses to light in epigean and hypogean populations of Gambusia affinis (Cyprinodontiformes: Poeciliidae) M.M. Camassa. Temporal organization in locomotor activity of the hypogean loach, Nemacheilus evezardi, and its epigean ancestor A.K. Pati. Part 2: Ecology and conservation. Ecology of subterranean fishes: an overview E. Trajano. Population biology and growth of Ozark cavefish in Logan Cave National Wildlife Refuge, Arkansas J.Z. Brown, J.E. Johnson. Threatened fishes of the world: Ophisternon infernale (Hubbs, 1938) (Synbranchidae) R. Medina-Gonzalez, et al. How hydrogeology has shaped the ecology of Missouri's Ozark cavefish, Amblyopsis rosae, and southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus: insights on the sightless from understanding the underground D.B. Noltie, C.M. Wicks. Habitat and population data of troglobitic armored cave catfish, Ancistrus cryptophthalmus Reis, 1987, fromcentral Brazil (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) E. Trajano. The conservation status of hypogean fishes G.S. Proudlove. Threatened fishes of the world: Ogilbia pearsei (Hubbs, 1938) (Bythitidae) G. Proudlove, et al. Status of the federally endangered Alabama cavefish, Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni (Amblyopsidae), in Key Cave and surrounding caves, Alabama B.R. Kuhajda, R.L. Mayden. Part 3: Genetics and evolution. Genetic differentiation among populations of the cave fish Schistura oedipus (Cypriniformes: Balitoridae) R.B. Borowsky, L. Mertz. Origins and relationship of cave populations of the blind Mexican tetra, Astyanax fasciatus, in the Sierra de El Abra L. Espinasa, R.B. Borowsky. Threatened fishes of the world: Caecobarbus geertsii Boulenger, 1921 (Cyprinidae) G.S. Proudlove, A. Romero. Morphological and physiological correlates of evolutionary reduction of metabolic rate among amblyopsid cave fishes T.L. Poulson. Convergent adaptations to cave life in the Rhamdia laticauda catfish group (Pimelodidae, Teleostei) H. Wilkens. A review of morphological and behavioural changes in the cave molly, Poecilia mexicana, from Tabasco, Mexico J. Parzefall. Part 4: Special cases. Troglomorphic sculpins of the Cottus carolinae species group in Perry County, Missouri: distribution, external morphology, and conservation status B.M. Burr, et al. Milyeringa veritas (Eleotridae), a remarkably versatile cave fish from the arid tropics of northwestern Australia W.F. Humphreys. Mexican blindcat genus Prietella (Siluriformes: Ictaluridae): an overview of recent explorations D.A. Hendrickson, et al. A new blind cave fish population of genus Astyanax: geography, morphology and behavior

I report on multiple correlates of reduction in metabolic rate during evolutionary adaptation to caves in the fish family Amblyopsidae. The family includes six species with one surface-dweller, Chologaster cornuta, a facultative cave dweller, Chologaster agassizi, and four obligate cave-dwellers that, on the basis of eye degeneration, have been isolated in caves for increasing times: Typhlichthys subterraneus brain metabolic rate > gill surface area. Relative amplitude declined and the estimated ventilation minute-volume decreased 5.9 fold from a value of 1.12 to 0.19 ml. Log brain rate of oxygen consumption was directly related to log body mass, b = +0.75, and decreased from 1.5 to 0.06 μl per mg dry mass per hour among species. No single gill trait accounted for the reduction in total lamellar surface area from 228 to 103 mm2 g-1. There was no reduction in muscle metabolic rate or histological indices of thyroid activity. Log muscle rate of oxygen consumption was inversely related to log body mass, b = -0.60, but did not differ among species. The mean total thyroid follicle volume among species, from 0.010 to 0.020 mm3 g-1 of adult fishes, showed no relation to interspecific differences in whole fish metabolic rate. In the general discussion I show that no trait that could contribute to a lowered metabolic rate is in the same rank order as metabolic rate, though collectively the reductions were in the same order as metabolic rates. I explain that this is as expected with convergent evolution of complex traits. Finally I discuss the literature about central nervous system control of metabolic rate.

Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933 was described inadvertently in a richly illustrated publication on the comparative anatomy of the central nervous system of blind cavefishes. Characters described by Charlton (1933) are sufficient to differentiate the species from Amblyopsis rosae (Eigenmann, 1898), with which he compared it in a detailed examination of the optic tectum, the primary visual center of the brain. These characters are: 1) a relatively narrow optic nerve, 2) a relatively large tractus mesencephalo-cerebellaris anterior; 3) the rostral bundle of the fibrae tectales nervi optici ascending in front of the nucleus dorsali thalami as opposed to coursing around its anterior pole; and, 4) relatively small brachia tecti. Efforts to locate Charlton’s type specimens of T. eigenmanni, likely histological slides, have not been successful. The type locality is Ha Ha Tonka State Park, Camden Co., Missouri. Putative topotypes are catalogued in collections of the University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology. Typhlichthys eigenmanni Charlton, 1933 is a subjective synonym of T. subterraneus Girard, 1859, the Southern Cavefish.