Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, May, 1900: Vol. 57, May, 1900 to October, 1900Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, May, 1900: Vol. 57, May, 1900 to October, 1900
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
_b._ It must also be evident that a fish depending on its sight to
procure its food can never become a cave form. Sunfishes, which are
annually carried into caves, belong to this class of fishes. They
are always poor when found in the caves, and will never be able to
establish themselves in them. On the other hand, there are no reasons
why fishes detecting their prey either by smell or touch should not
be capable of colonizing caves. The catfishes and Amblyopsidæ belong
to the latter class. It is surprising that more catfishes have not
established themselves in caves. Among the Amblyopsidæ even those
with functional eyes depend on touch and vibrations for their food.
Chologaster has well-developed tactile organs and poor eyes. It is
found chiefly at the mouths of underground streams, but also in the
underground streams themselves. The tactile organs are not different
in kind from those of other fishes, and their high development is not
more marked than their development in the barbels of the catfishes.
The characters which distinguish Chologaster as a fish capable of
securing its food in the dark are emphasized in Typhlichthys, and the
tactile organs are still more highly developed in Amblyopsis. The
eyes of the last two genera are so degenerate that it is needless in
this connection to speak of degrees of degeneration. On account of
the structure of their eyes and their loss of protective pigment they
are incapable of existence in open waters. With the partial and total
adaptation to an underground existence in the Amblyopsidæ and their
negative reaction to light, it is scarcely possible that for this
family the idea of accidental colonization can be entertained for a
moment. Their structure is not as much due to their habitat as their
habitat is to their structure and habit.
Typhlogobius lives in the holes of shrimps under rocks on the coast
of southern California. It is a living example of the origin of blind
forms in dark places remote from caves. Here again the “accidental”
idea is preposterous, since no fish could by accident be carried
into the devious windings of the burrows they inhabit. Moreover, a
number of related species of gobies occur in the neighborhood. They
live ordinarily in the open, but always retreat into the burrows of
crustaceans when disturbed. The origin of the blind species by the
gradual change from an occasional burrow seeker to a permanent dweller
in the dark and the consequent degeneration of the eye is evident here
at once. Among insects the same process and the same results are noted.
We have everywhere the connection of diurnal species with dark-loving
and blind forms, a transition the result of habit entered into with
intent, but no evidence of such a connection as the result of accident.
Also numerous instances of daylight species being swept into caves, but
no instance of one establishing itself there.
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