Exploring life is something that enthuses everyone and if there is something from National Geographic? Needless to say, that’s exciting!
Here is one such update and it’s about the world’s largest cave fish discovered in India’s hilly state of Meghalaya, recently!
While there are about 250 fish species on earth discovered till date, majority of them are small and just a few inches long.
Whereas, the latest discovery is about the fish species that’s around a foot and half in length and weights 10 times more than any other known species in the world.
Researchers found that species in the 300-ft-deep Um Ladaw Cave in Meghalaya, and they called it ‘Cave Fish’.
Biologist Daniel Harries discovered that in a 2019 expedition led by a professional cave explorer Thomas Arbenz.
Still evolving to be called a separate species, this fish discovery is preparing the ground for more research on how fish maintain body size, feed, and their ability to live in such deep caves.
Alike other species, the cave fish doesn’t have eyes but can sense light to some extent.
“How they get so large, and what they feed on remains a mystery. There’s certainly something rather odd going on to have quite so many large fish in that kind of environment,” a National Geographic post quoted Harries statements.
Even the biological identity of that fish is a great suspense, on which the researchers are reportedly working with Indian scientists Neelesh Dahanukar and Rajeev Raghavan, NG informed.
“I’ve photographed wildlife in caves over the last 20 years but never seen anything so big. I was amazed how big they were,” says photographer Robbie Shone, who captured this fish.
Till date, the two longest subterranean fish species recorded were blind swamp eel (Ophisternon infernale) from Mexico’s Yucátan and the blind cave eel (Ophisternon candidum) from western Australia.
