Forbesichthys papilliferus (Forbes, 1882)

Taxonomy

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygophile

Realm

Aquatic

Distribution

Range

Known from 11 counties across three states.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee

Counties

Illinois

Clinton, Hardin, Jackson, Union

Kentucky

Barren, Edmonson, Livingston, Warren

Tennessee

Davidson, Dickson, Montgomery

Conservation and management

NatureServe

G3 Vulnerable

National ranks

United States

NNR

Subnational ranks

Tennessee

SNR Unranked

Missouri

S1 Critically Imperiled

Kentucky

SNR Unranked

Illinois

S1 Critically Imperiled

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act

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.
• 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.
• 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
• Burr, B.M., Warren & M.L. Jr. 1986. A distributional atlas of Kentucky fishes. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfurt, Kentucky, USA. 398 pp.
• 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. & 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.
• 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. 1898. The Amblyopsidae and eyes of blind fishes [abstract]. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 1897: 230–231. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14629164.
• Eigenmann, C.H. 1899. Explorations in the caves of Missouri and Kentucky. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 1899: 58–61. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14629276.
• Forbes, S.A. 1881. A rare fish in Illinois. The American Naturalist 15: 232–233. doi:10.1086/272787
• 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
• Lewis, J.J. & Bowman, T.E. 1981. The subterranean asellids (Caecidotea) of Illinois (Crustacea: Isopoda: Asellidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 335: 1–66. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.335
• 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.
• Metzke, B.A., Burr, B.M., Hinz, Jr. L.C., Page, L.M. & Taylor, C.A. 2002. An Atlas of Illinois Fishes:150 Years of Change. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Illinois, USA. 424 pp. ISBN 978–0-252–04414–4.
• 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. 2013. 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
• 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/.
• 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.
• 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
• Swofford, D.L. 1976. Genetic variability, population differentiation and biochemical relationships in the family Amblyopsidae. Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky, USA. 193 pp.
• Tellkampf, T.A. 1845. Memoirs on the blind fishes and some other animals living in the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. The New York Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences 5: 84–93. https://www.google.com/books/edition/New_York_journal_of_medicine/rXEdAQAAMAAJ?hl=en.
• 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.

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.