Endangered
Blind cave eel
Ophisternon candidum
Blind cave eel is a ray-finned fish in the family Synbranchidae (order Synbranchiformes) — Ophisternon candidum, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
Its head length accounts for 5.6–6.3%, pre-anus length accounts for 35.8–41.8%, snout length accounts for 0.82–1.11% and gape length accounts for 1.59–2.01% of its total length. There are two pairs of nostrils, the smaller pair being on top of the upper lip at the snout and the larger pair between the snout and its forehead. No scales or fins can be found except for the presence of a slim rayless membrane around the tail.
The blind cave eel is Australia's longest cavefish and may grow up to 400 mm (16 in). Even so, common total lengths for mature adults have an average of 340 mm (13 in) and range between 60 and 385 mm (2.4 and 15.2 in).
Range and habitat
Observations were made in 3 regions. Cape Range, Pilbara, and Barrow Island, that makes the blind cave eel endemic to north-western Australia. In the Cape Range region, there are 14 sites in total as recorded by the Western Australian Museum, making the region the most common place to spot a blind cave eel. In the Barrow Island Region, there are 3 sites among them the Seismic testing site E1918, Anode Well T2, and Anode Well L15.
The blind cave eel is endemic to northwestern Australia, specifically in the Cape Range region, the Pilbara Region, and the Barrow Island region.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
The blind cave eel feeds primarily based on crustaceans in subterranean and other cave substrate organisms, but have also been documented to feed on terrestrials washed into the cave system. For mating behaviour, the male blind cave eel tends to take the responsibility of building a nest or burrow and guarding over it.
In crisis
The blind cave eel is an aquarium and research fish with no threat to humans. It is listed as vulnerable according to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and listed as endangered according to the IUCN Red List. On 26 March 2008, the Australian Minister signed a piece of conservation advice acknowledging threats from human activities and the volatile environment.
It then suggested priority actions for researchers, regional and local communities to assist in recovery. The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 assessed the blind cave eel as vulnerable, and the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 also assessed it as vulnerable.
Blind cave eel is 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 Blind cave eel, Wikidata item Q2047521. 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.
