78
years ago a collector of ornamental fish – his name was C. Basil Jordan
– discovered a blind species of tetra that lived in a cave in the state
of San Louis Potosi in Mexico. Jordan was able to collect 100 specimens
of the new fish and managed to bring them to the USA without losing
even one specimen. His discovery was a sensation. The blind cave tetra
was the first cave species belonging to the tetra family at all! The
species was described in a new genus under the name of Anoptichthys
jordani, which is translated “Jordan´s eyeless fish”.
The
species proofed to be very hardy and easy to breed. Today we know that
the blind cave tetra can be crossed over generations with the “normal
looking” tetra Astyanax fasciatus mexicanus that lives in aboveground
waters all over Mexico. This fact was the reason why many scientists
said that the blind cave tetra does not represent a species on its own.
Nowadays things are looking different again. Most recent scientist
accept species concepts rather under evolutionary aspects and so the
blind cave tetra is most often named Astyanax jordani now.
Interestingly
the species never died out in aquaria since the first importation from
1936 and the ancestors of all specimens kept today are fish from the
originally 100 wild collected ones. And the blind cave tetra is not a
beauty! The fish we currently have in stock were bred in Singapore, but
they also belong to the aquarium population established in 1936.
Blind
cave tetras can be kept along with any type of peaceful fish. Their
blindness is no handicap at all. Most probably this is the reason why
aquarists keep on breeding them: most fish enthusiasts want to study the
unique adaptation of the blind cave tetra once in their lifetime.
For our customers: the fish have code 209011 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
