March 25, 2016
An incredible fish that dwells in the caves of Thailand may provide researchers with new insights into how life moved from the ocean to land.
Known as the Cryptotora thamicola, the blind fish boasts the ability to use its limbs for walking and can actually climb up a waterfall!
What sets the creature apart from other so-called 'walking fish' is that the animal has a unique body that resembles the ancient tetrapods which were the first denizens of Earth to roam land.
Possessing a stiff spine and large pelvis, the composition of the creature allows it to move like a salamander rather than with the familiar sway of its fellow fish.
As such, the animal has an uncanny array of ways in which it can maneuver, including scrambling upwards along rocks behind a waterfall.
Incredibly, the cavefish was actually discovered in 1985, but is so rare and isolated that researchers have only now been able to document its abilities.
They hope that further study of the cavefish can provide clues into the evolutionary changes that led the way for four-legged animals.
At the very least, the cavefish can provide fishermen everywhere a new excuse for why their catch got away: it ran!
Source: Christian Science Monitor
An incredible fish that dwells in the caves of Thailand may provide researchers with new insights into how life moved from the ocean to land.
Known as the Cryptotora thamicola, the blind fish boasts the ability to use its limbs for walking and can actually climb up a waterfall!
What sets the creature apart from other so-called 'walking fish' is that the animal has a unique body that resembles the ancient tetrapods which were the first denizens of Earth to roam land.
Possessing a stiff spine and large pelvis, the composition of the creature allows it to move like a salamander rather than with the familiar sway of its fellow fish.
As such, the animal has an uncanny array of ways in which it can maneuver, including scrambling upwards along rocks behind a waterfall.
Incredibly, the cavefish was actually discovered in 1985, but is so rare and isolated that researchers have only now been able to document its abilities.
They hope that further study of the cavefish can provide clues into the evolutionary changes that led the way for four-legged animals.
At the very least, the cavefish can provide fishermen everywhere a new excuse for why their catch got away: it ran!
Source: Christian Science Monitor