Biology of Subterranean Fishes

About this book

In most habitats, adaptations are the single most obvious aspects of an organism's phenotype. However, the most obvious features of many subterranean animals are losses, not adaptations. Even Darwin saw subterranean animals as degenerates: examples of eyelessness and loss of structure in general. For him, the explanation was a straightforward Lamarckian one, and one that did not involve adaptation and the struggle of existence. This volume is a comprehensive account of all known species of subterranean fishes. It includes an extensive introduction, history of investigations, consideration of non-stygobiontic fishes in caves, and a detailed analysis of the conservation status of these very rare animals.

Contents

Cavefish: Retrospective and Prospective / T.L. Poulson
Biodiversity and Distribution of the Subterranean Fishes of the World / G.S. Proudlove
Conservation of Subterranean Fishes / M.E. Bichuette and E. Trajano
Behavioral Patterns in Subterranean Fishes / J. Parzefall and E. Trajano
The Evolutionary Genetics of Cave Fishes: Convergence / Adaptation and Pleiotropy, R. Borowsky
Development as an Evolutionary Process in Astyanax Cavefishes / W.R. Jeffery and A.G. Strickler
Subterranean Fishes of North America: Amblyopsidae / M.L. Niemiller and T.L. Poulson
Subterranean Fishes of Mexico (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae) / M. Plath and M. Tobler
Subterranean Fishes of Brazil / E. Trajano and M.E. Bichuette
Subterranean Fishes of Africa / R. Berti and G. Messana
Subterranean Fishes of China / C. Zi-Ming, L. Jing, X. Heng and Y. Jun-Xing
Subterranean Fishes of India / A. Kumar Pati and A. Parganiha

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