Amblyopsis

Amblyopsis
Hoosier cavefish A. hoosieri
Northern cavefish A. spelaea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Division: Teleostei
Order: Percopsiformes
Family: Amblyopsidae
Genus: Amblyopsis
DeKay, 1842
Type species
Amblyopsis spelaeus
DeKay, 1842

Amblyopsis is a genus of small (up to 11 cm or 4.3 in long) fish in the family Amblyopsidae that are endemic to the central and eastern United States. Like other cavefish, they lack pigmentation and are blind. The most recently described species was in 2014. Uniquely among fish, Amblyopsis brood their eggs in the gill chambers (somewhat like mouthbrooders). It was formerly incorrectly speculated that the same brooding behavior existed in other genera in the family and in the pirate perch (Aphredoderus sayanus). During the Pleistocene period, the modern Ohio river was a barrier of dispersal and created a great genetic variation, leading to two phylogenetically distinct lineages from the species Amblyopsis.

Species

There are currently two species of this genus:

References

  1. ↑ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Amblyopsis". FishBase. May 2017 version.
  2. ↑ Darwin, Charles (1979) [1859]. The Origin of Species. New York: Avenel Books. p. 179. ISBN 0-517-30978-5.
  3. 1 2 Chakrabarty, P.; Prejean, J.A.; Niemiller, M.L. (2014). "The Hoosier cavefish, a new and endangered species (Amblyopsidae, Amblyopsis) from the caves of southern Indiana". ZooKeys (412): 41–57. doi:10.3897/zookeys.412.7245. PMC 4042695. PMID 24899861.
  4. 1 2 Armbruster, J.W.; M.L. Niemiller & P.B. Hart (2016). "Morphological Evolution of the Cave-, Spring-, and Swampfishes of the Amblyopsidae (Percopsiformes)". Copeia. 104 (3): 763–777. doi:10.1643/ci-15-339. S2CID 53608365.
  5. ↑ Fletcher, D.E.; Dakin, E.E.; Porter, B.A.; Avise, J.C. (2004). "Spawning behavior and genetic parentage in the pirate perch (Aphredoderus sayanus), a fish with an enigmatic reproductive morphology". Copeia. 2004 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1643/ce-03-160r. S2CID 37827490.
  6. ↑ Niemiller, M.L.; McCandless, J.R.; Reynolds, R.G. (2013). "Effects of Climatic and Geological Processes During the Pleistocene on the Evolutionary History of the Northern Cavefish, Amblyopsis spelaea (Teleostei: Amblyopsidae)". Evolution. 67 (4): 1011–1025. doi:10.1111/evo.12017. PMID 23550752. S2CID 205122612.
  7. ↑ Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Amblyopsis". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 23 November 2025.