Alabama cavefish
Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni Cooper & Kuehne, 1974

Taxonomy

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Maximum length

60 mm

Distribution

Type locality

Key Cave, Lauderdale Co., AL

Range

Known from one county in Alabama in the Interior Low Plateau karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama

Counties

Alabama

Lauderdale

Karst regions

Interior Low Plateau

Genetics

Molecular resources

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

Download all 27 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Nuclear genome

Available

Specimens

Type material

Holotype

USNM 204999 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Paratype

3705.01 · Alabama Museum of Natural History

Paratype

USNM 204998 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Topotype

197679 · University of Michigan Museum of Zoology

Collections holding material

9 cataloged lots in 3 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 9 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

IUCN Red List

CR Critically Endangered B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)

Assessed in 2012.

NatureServe

G1 Critically Imperiled

Global rank last reviewed 12 April 2012.

Subnational ranks

Alabama

S1 Critically Imperiled

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

Endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, listed in 1987.

Threats

• Urbanization - Residential
• Urbanization - Comm. & Industrial
• Recreational/Commerical Cave Activities
• Dams & Water Extraction
• Invasive Species
• Diseases

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

4YJ7X

GBIF

2401719

ITIS

164397

iNaturalist

112886

NCBI Taxonomy

940468

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.
• Boschung, Jr., H.T. & Mayden, R.L. 2004. Fishes of Alabama. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. 736 pp. ISBN 978–1588340047.
• 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. & Kuehne, R.A. 1974. Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni, a new genus and species of subterranean fish from Alabama. Copeia 1974: 486–493.
• Engel, A.S. & Niemiller, M.L. 2024. The Southern Cumberland Plateau. In: Weaver, A. (ed), 2024 NSS Convention Guidebook: TAG Tour 2024, pp. 24–30. National Speleological Society, Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
• 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.
• 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
• Huryn, A.D. 2017c. Phantom Cave Crayfish Cambarus pecki Hobbs. In: Shelton-Nix, E. (ed), Alabama Wildlife, Volume 5, pp. 99–100. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.
• Jacobson, T. 1999. Endangered and threatened species of north Alabama karstlands. Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science 70: 105–107.
• Jandebeur, T.S. 1999. Caves and springs of north Alabama in social context. Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science 70: 108–122.
• Kuhajda, B.R. 2004. The impact of the proposed Eddie Frost Commence Park on Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni, the Alabama Cavefish, a federally endangered species restricted to Key Cave, Lauderdale County, Alabama. Endangered Species Update 21: 57–65.
• Kuhajda, B.R. 2017. Alabama Cavefish Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni Cooper and Kuehne. In: Shelton-Nix, E. (ed), Alabama Wildlife, Volume 5, p. 164. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.
• 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., George, A.L. & Williams, J.D. 2009. The desperate dozen: Southeastern freshwater fishes on the brink. Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings 51: 1–31.
• 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.
• Niemiller, M.L. 2022. Diversity in the darkness. Alabama's hidden but remarkable life in caves. Alabama Wildlife 86: 19–22.
• 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., 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
• Poly, W.J. & Proudlove, G.S. 2004. Family Amblyopsidae Bonaparte 1846: cavefishes. California Academy of Sciences Annotated Checklists of Fishes 25: 1–7.
• 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.
• 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
• Tennessee Cave Survey. 2005. Biological records from Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia caves. Tennessee Cave Survey.

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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