Ozark cavefish
Troglichthys rosae (Eigenmann, 1898)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Maximum length

50 mm

Distribution

Range

Known from 10 counties across three states in the Ozarks karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma

Counties

Arkansas

Benton, Washington

Missouri

Barry, Greene, Jasper, Lawrence, Newton, Stone

Oklahoma

Delaware, Ottawa

Karst regions

Ozarks

Specimens

Collections holding material

4 cataloged lots in 2 collections. Compiled from GBIF and not an exhaustive census: many collections are not yet digitised, and holdings are added continually. Search GBIF for specimen records.

Download all 4 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

IUCN Red List

NT Near Threatened na

Assessed in 2012.

NatureServe

G3 Vulnerable

Global rank last reviewed 2012.

Subnational ranks

Arkansas

S1 Critically Imperiled

Kansas

SNR Unranked

Missouri

S2 Imperiled

Oklahoma

S1 Critically Imperiled

Ranks looked up 2 August 2026. Conservation status changes, and a rank here is as current as that date and no more.

State and federal status

Threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, listed in 1984.

Threats

• Recreational/Commerical Cave Activities
• Dams & Water Extraction
• Pollution -Sewage or Urban Wastewater
• Pollution - Commercial/Industrial
• Pollution - Agricultural & Forestry

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

CMRB

GBIF

2401742

iNaturalist

1316923

References

• Adams, G.L., Burr, B.M. & Warren, Jr., M.L. 2020. Chapter 21. Amblyopsidae: cavefishes. In: Warren, Jr., M.L & Burr, B.M. (eds), Freshwater Fishes of North America. Volume 2. Characidae to Poeciliidae, pp. 281–321. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
• Armbruster, J.A., Niemiller, M.L. & Hart, P.B. 2016. Morphological evolution of the cave-, spring-, and swampfishes of the Amblyopsidae (Percopsiformes). Copeia 104: 763–777.
• Cox, U.O. 1905. A revision of the cave fishes of North America. Appendix to the Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for the Year Ending June 30, 1904. Bureau of Fisheries, U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, DC, USA. 377–393.
• Eigenmann, C.H. 1897. The Amblyopsidae, the blind fish of America. Report of the British Association for the Advacement of Science 1897: 685–686. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30118215. details
• Eigenmann, C.H. 1898b. The Amblyopsidae and eyes of blind fishes [abstract]. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 1897: 230–231. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14629164. details
• Eigenmann, C.H. 1898c. A new blind fish [abstract]. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 1897: 231. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14629165. details
• Eigenmann, C.H. 1899b. Notes on the blind fishes. Science 9: 370.
• Eigenmann, C.H. 1899a. Explorations in the caves of Missouri and Kentucky. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 1899: 58–61. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14629276. details
• Eigenmann, C.H. 1905. Divergence and convergence in fishes. Biological Bulletin 8: 59–66. doi:10.2307/1535853
• Fenolio, D.B. 2011. 2011 Ozark aquatic subterranean wildlife surveys. Report to Oklahoma Biological Survey. Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 6 pp.
• Fenolio, D.B. 2012. 2012 Ozark aquatic subterranean wildlife surveys. Report to Oklahoma Biological Survey. Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 3 pp.
• Fenolio, D.B. 2014. 2014 Ozark aquatic subterranean wildlife surveys. Report to Oklahoma Biological Survey. San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, Texas, USA. 21 pp.
• Fenolio, D.B., Niemiller, M.L., Slay, M.E. & Carter, E.T. 2017. Biological inventories of caves in the Ozarks of northeastern Oklahoma: December 2017 field report. Report to Oklahoma Biological Survey. San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, Texas, USA. 17 pp.
• Fenolio, D.B., Slay, M.E. & Niemiller, M.L. 2023b. Biological inventories of caves in the Ozarks of northeastern Oklahoma: December 2023 field report. Report to Oklahoma Biological Survey. San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, Texas, USA. 24 pp.
• Garman, S. 1889. Cave animals from southwestern Missouri. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 17: 225–240. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4632250. details
• Hart, P.B., Niemiller, M.L., Armbruster, J.W. & Chakrabarty, P. 2024. Conservation implications for the world’s most widely distributed cavefish species complex based on population genomics (Typhlichthys, Percopsiformes). Conservation Genetics 25: 165–177. doi:10.1007/s10592-023-01562-x
• Hart, P.B., Rincon-Sandoval, M., Melendez-Vazquex, F., Armbruster, J.W., Troyer, E.M., Bierstein, O.M., Gough, B.J., Betancur-R, R., Niemiller, M.L. & Arcila, D. 2025. Ancient climate changes and relaxed selection shape cave colonization in North American cavefishes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 292: 20242516. doi:10.1098/rspb.2024.2516
• McDaniel, V.R. & Gardner, J.E. 1977. Cave fauna of Arkansas: vertebrate taxa. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science 31: 68–71. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol31/iss1/22. details
• Nicholas, G. 1960. Checklist of macroscopic troglobitic organisms of the United States. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 123–160. doi:10.2307/2422897
• Niemiller, M.L., Fitzpatrick, B.M., Shah, P., Schmitz, L. & Near, T.J. 2013d. Evidence for repeated loss of selective constraint in rhodopsin of amblyopsid cavefishes (Teleostei: Amblyopsidae). Evolution 67: 732–748. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01822.x
• Poulson, T.L. 1961. Cave adaptation in amblyopsid cavefishes. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. 185 pp. doi:10.7302/9847
• Poulson, T.L. 1963. Cave adaptation in amblyopsid cavefishes. The American Midland Naturalist 70: 257–290. doi:10.2307/2423056
• Romero, A. & Conner, M. 2007. Status report for the southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus in Arkansas. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. 37 pp. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/bb_pubs/296/. details
• Romero, A., Conner, M.S. & Vaughan, G.L. 2010. Population status of the southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus in Arkansas. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science 64: 106–110. doi:10.54119/jaas.2010.6413
• Swofford, D.L. 1976. Genetic variability, population differentiation and biochemical relationships in the family Amblyopsidae. Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky, USA. 193 pp.
• Swofford, D.L., Branson, B.A. & Sievert, G.A. 1980. Genetic differentiation of cavefish populations (Amblyopsidae). Isozyme Bulletin 13: 109–110.
• Woods, L.P. & Inger, R.F. 1957. The cave, spring, and swamp fishes of the family Amblyopsidae of central and eastern United States. The American Midland Naturalist 58: 232–256. doi:10.2307/2422371

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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