Critically Endangered
Alabama cavefish
Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni
Alabama cavefish is a ray-finned fish in the family Amblyopsidae (order Percopsiformes) — Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
It was discovered underneath a colony of gray bats in 1967 by researchers Robert A. The Alabama cavefish exists in a fragile ecosystem based on nutrient-rich guano of the gray bat.
Cooper and scientifically described in 1974.
Range and habitat
The Alabama cavefish is a critically endangered species of amblyopsid cavefish found only in underground pools in Key Cave, located in northwestern Alabama, United States in the Key Cave National Wildlife Refuge. Conservation measures that have been taken to save the species from extinction include protecting the fish under the Lacey Act and limiting human disturbance of Key Cave, the species' critical habitat.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
The diet of the Alabama cavefish, that consists of copepods, isopods, amphipods, and smaller cavefish, is supported by the nutrient-filled bat guano.
In crisis
On any single visit to the cave, no more than 10 individuals of this fish have been observed, and scientists estimate fewer than 100 are left. Unfortunately, the Alabama cavefish is in danger of extinction, according to both the ESA and IUCN listings. The Alabama cavefish was first listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 1986 as vulnerable and remained in that category following re-evaluation in 1988.
Two years later, in 1990, the status of the cavefish was reassessed and upgraded to endangered, that was then again confirmed by a reassessment in 1994. In 1996, the Alabama cavefish was again upgraded to critically endangered due to its lack of extent (100 sq. Km), low population size, and numerous habitat challenges.
Alabama cavefish is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Alabama cavefish, Wikidata item Q3061096. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
