Blind Cavefish

What do you call a fish with no eyes? A Blind Cavefish of course.

Blind Cavefish live in warm dark caves of freshwater rivers, lakes or pools that can be found throughout Central America. They hide out in these dark areas as this helps to protect them against predators who are less able to cope with the dark areas,

If you look close enough, you might notice that our Blind Cavefish don’t actually have any eyes. They are born with eyes but these will fall out as they grow older. Although their eyes are gone, you should still be able to see where their eye socket has now closed over. Due to the lack of light they have albino scales with transparent fins which is pretty unique as most south American species are dark in colour.

Even though they can’t see, they do have an incredible sense of smell which helps them locate their prey. They also have a very sensitive lateral line system which can allow them to detect any changes or vibrations in the water. These fish can be found in a red lit tank which produces the same effect as darkness so our fish feel comfortable.