Southern Cavefish
Typhlichthys subterraneus Girard, 1859

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Eyes

Vestigial

Pigment

Reduced

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Maximum length

70 mm

Distribution

Type locality

well near Bowling Green, Warren Co., KY

Range

Known from 50 counties across four states across two karst regions.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee

Counties

Alabama

Blount, Colbert, DeKalb, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Madison Co. (AL), Marshall, Morgan

Georgia

Catoosa, Dade

Kentucky

Barren, Christian, Edmonson, Hart, Pulaski, Simpson, Trigg, Warren

Tennessee

Bedford, Cheatham, Coffee, DeKalb, Decatur, Dickson, Fentress, Franklin, Grundy, Hardin, Hickman, Houston, Lewis, Marion, Marshall, Maury, Montgomery, Overton, Perry, Putnam, Robertson, Rutherford, Smith, Sumner, Van Buren, Warren, Wayne, White, Wilson

Karst regions

Appalachians, Interior Low Plateau

Habitat

Aquatic habitat

Cave stream, Cave pool, Cave lake, Sump or flooded passage, Phreatic groundwater

Cave zone

Deep cave

Ecology and life history

Genetics

Molecular resources

716 sequences, retrieved 23 August 2026. Counts change as sequences are deposited. Search GenBank.

Download all 716 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Nuclear genome

Available

Specimens

Type material

Syntype ×4

California Academy of Sciences

Type

USNM 8563 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Type ×3

Yale Peabody Museum

Collections holding material

190 cataloged lots in 21 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 190 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

IUCN Red List

NT Near Threatened na

Assessed in 2014.

NatureServe

G4 Apparently Secure

Global rank last reviewed 27 September 2010.

Subnational ranks

Alabama

S3 Vulnerable

Arkansas

S1 Critically Imperiled

Georgia

S1 Critically Imperiled

Indiana

SX Presumed Extirpated

Kentucky

S2S3 Imperiled to Vulnerable

Tennessee

S3 Vulnerable

Ranks looked up 23 August 2026. Conservation status changes, and a rank here is as current as that date and no more.

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Threats

• Agriculture - Crops
• Agriculture - Livestock
• Agriculture - Logging
• Mining & Quarrying
• Recreational/Commerical Cave Activities
• Dams & Water Extraction
• Pollution -Sewage or Urban Wastewater
• Pollution - Commercial/Industrial
• Pollution - Agricultural & Forestry

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7DB8M

GBIF

2401721

ITIS

164399

iNaturalist

114704

NCBI Taxonomy

940470

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.
• Armstrong, J.G. & Williams, J.D. 1971. Cave and spring fishes of the southern bend of the Tennessee River. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 46: 107–115.
• Bailey, V. 1933. Cave Life of Kentucky. US Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey, Washington, DC, USA. 256 pp.
• Banta, A.M. 1907. The fauna of Mayfield's Cave. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 67: 1–114. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/60987. details
• Barr, T.C., Jr. & Kuehne, R.A. 1971. Ecological studies in the Mammoth Cave system of Kentucky. II. The Ecosystem. Annales de Speleologie 26: 47–96. doi:10.5038/1827-806X.3.1.10
• Beck, B.F. 1980. An Introduction to Caves and Cave Exploring in Georgia. Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 43 pp.
• Boschung, Jr., H.T. 1961. An annotated list of fishes from the Coosa River system of Alabama. The American Midland Naturalist 66: 257–285. doi:10.2307/2423028
• Boschung, Jr., H.T. & Mayden, R.L. 2004. Fishes of Alabama. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. 736 pp. ISBN 978–1588340047.
• Burr, B.M., Warren & M.L. Jr. 1986. A distributional atlas of Kentucky fishes. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfurt, Kentucky, USA. 398 pp.
• Campbell, C.W., Sullivan, S.M. & Livingston, L.R. 1997. Modeling of a cave ecosystem. In: Beck, B.F., Herring, J.G. & Stephenson, J.B. (eds), The Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology of Karst Terranes, pp. 395–399. CRC Press, London, United Kingdom. doi:10.1201/9781003078128
• Cobb, R.M. 1985. A reconnaissance of caves in Lauderdale and Colbert counties, Alabama for the Alabama cavefish, Speleoplatyrhinus poulsoni. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Jackson, Mississippi, USA. 28 pp.
• Cobb, R.M. 1986. An attempt to collect specimens of cavefish at three cave sites in northwest Alabama. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Jackson, Mississippi, USA. 9 pp.
• Cobb, R.M. 1989. An attempt to secure a cavefish for identification in Bell Cave, Colbert County, Alabama. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Jackson, Mississippi, USA. 13 pp.
• Cooper, J.E. 1966. Preliminary observation on the biology of Shelta Cave, Alabama. Bulletin of the National Speleological Society 28: 96–97.
• Cooper, J.E. 1968b. Shelta Cave, a biological marvel. National Speleological Society News 26: 33–35.
• Cooper, J.E. 1968a. The salamander Gyrinophilus palleucus in Georgia, with notes on Alabama and Tennessee population. Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science 39: 182–185. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54954393. details
• Cooper, J.E. 1975. Ecological and behavioral studies in Shelta Cave, Alabama, with emphasis on decapod crustaceans. University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA. 364 pp.
• Cooper, J.E. & Beiter, D.P. 1972. The southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus (Pisces: Amblyopsidae), in the Mississippian Plateau of Kentucky. Copeia 1972: 879–881.
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 1974. Distribution and ecology of troglobitic shrimp of the genus Palaemonias (Decapoda; Atyidae). ASB Bulletin 21: 48.
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 1997a. New troglobitic crayfish of the genus Orconectes, subgenus Orconectes (Decapoda: Cambaridae), endemic to Shelta Cave, Huntsville, Alabama. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 59: 119–127.
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 2009. Long-term mark-recapture studies of population sizes in the stygobiotic crayfishes (Decapoda: Cambaridae) of Shelta Cave, Alabama, USA. Subterranean Biology 7: 35–40.
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 2011. Observations on the biology of the endangered stygobiotic shrimp Palaemonias alabamae, with notes on P. ganteri (Decapoda: Atyidae). Subterranean Biology 8: 9–20.
• Cooper, J.E. & Iles, A. 1971. The southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus, at the southeastern periphery of its range. Bulletin of the National Speleological Society 33: 45–49.
• Cooper, J.E. & Kuehne, R.A. 1974. Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni, a new genus and species of subterranean fish from Alabama. Copeia 1974: 486–493.
• 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. 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
• Girard, C.F. 1859. Ichthyological notices. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 11: 56–68. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1653136. details
• Godwin, J.C. 2000. Reassessment of the historical and search for new localities of the Tennessee cave salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus) in Alabama. Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Montgomery, Alabama, USA. 15 pp.
• Harker, D.F., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1979. Caves and associated fauna of Eastern Kentucky, Volume 3. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfurt, Kentucky, USA. 130 pp.
• Harker, D.F., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1980. Caves and associated fauna of the Western Kentucky coal field, Volume 2. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfurt, Kentucky, USA. 114 pp.
• 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
• Hay, W.P. 1902a. Observations on the crustacean fauna of Nickajack Cave, Tennessee, and vicinity. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 25: 417–439. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.25-1292.417
• Hobbs, III., H.H. 1994. Assessment of the ecological resources of the caves of Russell Cave National Monument, Jackson County, Alabama and of selected caves at the Lookout Mountain Unit of Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park, Dade County, Georgia and Hamilton County, Tennessee. 200 pp.
• Hobbs, III., H.H. & Bagley, F.M. 1989. Shelta Cave management plan. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Jackson, Mississippi, USA. 78 pp.
• Hobbs, H.H., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1960. The origins and affinities of the troglobitic crayfishes of North America (Decapoda, Astacidae). I. The genus Cambarus. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 12–33. doi:10.2307/2422890
• Hobbs, H.H. Jr., Hobbs, H.H. III & Daniel, M.A. 1977. A review of the troglobitic decapod crustaceans of the Americas. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 244: 1–183.
• Huntsman, B.M., Venarsky, M.P. & Benstead, J.P. 2011b. Relating carrion breakdown rates to ambient resource level and community structure in four cave stream ecosystems. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 30: 882–892. doi:10.1899/10-116.1
• Jones, W.B. & Varnedoe, W.W. 1968. Caves of Madison County, Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama Circular 52: 1–177.
• Kuhajda, B.R. & Fluker, B.L. 2010. Status of the endangered Alabama Cavefish Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni. University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 16 pp.
• Kuhajda, B.R. & Mayden, R.L. 2001. Status of the federally endangered Alabama cavefish, Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni (Amblyopsidae), in Key Cave and surrounding caves, Alabama. Environmental Biology of Fishes 62: 215–222.
• Lawson, K.M., Schotz, A.R., Jenkins, A.J., Armbruster, J.W., Black, C., Callahan, M., Goertzen, L., Hansen, C., Stephen, C.D.R., Werneke, D., Mendonca, M. & Molina, E. 2021. Planning level survey of Redstone Arsenal for at-risk species and ecologically significant communities. Environmental Management Division, U.S. Army Garrison, Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama, USA. 402 pp.
• Lee, D.M. 1987. Shelta Cave survey. Proceedings of the 1987 Annual Convention.
• Lewis, J.J. 1988. The systematics, zoogeography and life history of the troglobitic isopods of the Interior Plateaus of the eastern United States. University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. 281 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. 2005a. A biological inventory of caves of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 156 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. & Lewis, S.L. 2005. Inventory of the subterranean fauna of Tims Ford State Park, Franklin County, Tennessee. Tennesee Natural Heritage Program, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 28 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. & Lewis, S.L. 2007. A biological reconnaissance of selected caves in the Highland Rim area of central Tennessee. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 42 pp.
• McGregor, S.W. & O'Neil, P.E. 2001. Water quality and biological monitoring in Bobcat and Matthews caves, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, 1990–2001. Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 28 pp.
• McGregor, S.W. & O'Neil, P.E. 2004. Water quality and biological monitoring in Bobcat and Matthews caves, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, 1990–2004. Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 33 pp.
• McGregor, S.W., O'Neil, P.E., Rheams, K.F., Moser, P.H. & Blackwood, R. 1997. Biological, geological, and hydrological investigations in Bobcat, Matthews, and Shelta caves and other selected caves in north Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama Bulletin 166: 1–198.
• McGregor, S.W., Rheams, K.F., O'Neil, P.E., Moser, P.H. & Blackwood, R. 1994. Biological, geological, and hydrological investigations in Bobcat, Matthews, and Shelta caves and other selected caves in north Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 226 pp.
• 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. 2022. Diversity in the darkness. Alabama's hidden but remarkable life in caves. Alabama Wildlife 86: 19–22.
• Niemiller, M.L., Anderson, C.L., Maxwell, E.C., Midgette, H., Quering, C., Richards, M., Wilson, K. & Wirwa, N. 2025b. A noteworthy range extension of the federally endangered Alabama Cave Shrimp (Palaemonias alabamae) south of the Tennessee River in northern Alabama. Southeastern Naturalist 24: N47-N58. doi:10.1656/058.024.0403
• Niemiller, M.L., Fenolio, D.B. & Zigler, K.S. 2012b. The obligate cave fauna of Georgia. Bulletin of the Georgia Speleological Survey 2012: 6–12.
• 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
• Niemiller, M.L., Graening, G.O., Fenolio, D.B., Godwin, J.C., Cooley, J.R., Pearson, W.D., Fitzpatrick, B.M. & Near, T.J. 2013a. Doomed before they are described? The need for conservation assessments of cryptic species complexes using an amblyopsid cavefish (Amblyopsidae: Typhlichthys) as a case study. Biodiversity and Conservation 22: 1799–1820. doi:10.1007/s10531-013-0514-4
• Niemiller, M.L., Higgs, D.M. & Soares, D. 2013c. Evidence for hearing loss in amblyopsid cavefishes. Biology Letters 9: 20130104. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0104
• Niemiller, M.L., Inebnit, T., Hinkle, A., Jones, B.D., Jones, M., Lamb, J., Mann, N., Miller, B., Pinkley, J., Pitts, S., Sapkota, K.N. & Slay, M.E. 2019. Discovery of a new population of the federally endangered Alabama cave shrimp, Palaemonias alabamae Smalley, 1961, in northern Alabama. Subterranean Biology 32: 43–59. doi:10.3897/subtbiol.32.38280
• Niemiller, M.L., Near, T.J. & Fitzpatrick, B.M. 2012a. Delimiting species using multilocus data: diagnosing cryptic diversity in the southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus (Teleostei: Amblyopsidae). Evolution 66: 846–866. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01480.x
• Niemiller, M.L., Slay, M.E., Inebnit, T., Miller, B., Tobin, B., Cramphorn, B., Hinkle, A., Jones, B.D., Mann, N. & Niemiller, K.D.K. 2023a. Fern Cave: a hotspot of subterranean biodiversity in the Interior Low Plateau karst region of Alabama in the southeastern United States. Diversity 15: 633. doi:10.3390/d15050633
• Niemiller, M.L. & Zigler, K.S. 2013. Patterns of cave biodiversity and endemism in the Appalachians and Interior Plateau of Tennessee, USA. PLOS One 8: e64177. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064177
• Niemiller, M.L., Zigler, K.S., Hart, P.B., Kuhajda, B.R., Armbruster, J.W., Ayala, B.N. & Engel, A.S. 2016a. First definitive record of a stygobiotic fish (Percopsiformes, Amblyopsidae, Typhlichthys) from the Appalachians karst region in the eastern United States. Subterranean Biology 20: 39–50. doi:10.3897/subtbiol.20.9693
• Niemiller, M.L., Zigler, K.S., Hinkle, A., Stephen, C.D.R., Cramphorn, B., Higgs, J., Mann, N., Miller, B.T., Niemiller, K.D.K., Smallwood, K. & Hardy, J. 2023b. The Crystal-Wonder Cave System: a new hotspot of subterranean biodiversity in the southern Cumberland Plateau of south-central Tennessee, USA. Diversity 15: 801. doi:10.3390/d15070801
• Orr, J.M. 1934. Studies on a cave fish of uncertain classification. Western Kentucky State College, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. 29 pp. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1795/. details
• Pearson, W.D. & Boston, C.H., Jr. 1995. Distribution and status of the northern cavefish, Amblyopsis spelaea. Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Fish and Wildlife, Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program,, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. 99 pp.
• Poly, W.J. & Proudlove, G.S. 2004. Family Amblyopsidae Bonaparte 1846: cavefishes. California Academy of Sciences Annotated Checklists of Fishes 25: 1–7.
• 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
• Putnam, F.W. 1872. The blind fishes of the Mammoth Cave and their allies. The American Naturalist 6: 6–30. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2446708. details
• Ramsey, J.S. 1976. Freshwater fishes. In: Boshung, H. (ed), Endangered and threatened plants and animals of Alabama. Alabama Museum of Natural History Bulletin 2, pp. 53–65. Alabama Museum of Natural History, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.
• Rheams, K.F., Moser, P.H. & McGregor, S.W. 1992. Geologic, hydrologic, and biologic investigations in Arrowwood, Bobcat, Matthews, and Shelta caves and selected caves, Madison, County, Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 262 pp.
• Rheams, K.F., Moser, P.H. & McGregor, S.W. 1994. Hydrogeologic and biologic factors related to the occurrence of the Alabama cave shrimp (Palaemonias alabamae), Madison County, Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama Bulletin 161: 1–147.
• Rhoades, R. 1941. Notes on some crayfishes from Alabama caves, with the description of a new species and a new subspecies. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 91: 141–148. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.91-3129.141
• 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
• Simmons, D.D. 1975. The evolutionary ecology of Gyrinophilus palleucus. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. 105 pp.
• 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.
• Tennessee Cave Survey. 2005. Biological records from Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia caves. Tennessee Cave Survey.
• Venarsky, M.P., Huryn, A.D. & Benstead, J.P. 2012b. Re-examining extreme longevity of the cave crayfish Orconectes australis using new mark-recapture data: a lesson on the limitations of iterative size-at-age models. Freshwater Biology 57: 1471–1481. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2427.2012.02812.x
• Weaver, H.D. 1980. Chattanooga, Tennessee. 15th Annual NC Convention, Oct. 28, 29, 30–1980. Down Under 15: 5.
• 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
• Zigler, K.S., Niemiller, M.L., Stephen, C.D.R., Ayala, B.N., Milne, M.A., Gladstone, N.S., Engel, A.S., Jensen, J.B., Camp, C.D., Ozier, J.C. & Cressler, A. 2020. Biodiversity from caves and other subterranean habitats of Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 82: 125–167. doi:10.4311/2019LSC0125

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

Spotted something wrong on this page? Report a correction. Accounts are compiled from many sources and corrections from people who know the group are the most useful email we get.