Golden Cave Catfish Are a Species of Air Breathing Catfish from Namibia

A fish breathing air is not uncommon, but it is also not always the case. Even less frequent is finding a species that lives in an underground lake, but Namibia's golden cave catfish can boast of that. They are not especially enormous fish because they only reach a length of six inches. Since vision is essentially worthless in an underground lake and they are highly threatened due to their limited population, their eyes are covered with skin.

They feed on debris and invertebrates that fall into the lake where they live because their tiny, skin-covered eyes are likely effectively blind. The population is thought to number between 200 and 400 people. Little is known about how it reproduces, and efforts to breed it in captivity have been unsuccessful. Chance occurrences and water extraction from the cave lake, which has caused a drop in water level, are threats to the population.

Since attempts to breed them outside of their cave have so far been ineffective, conservation efforts must currently rely on preservation. In their natural habitat, they feed on plants and whatever decaying objects they can discover.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Clariidae
Genus: Clarias
Species: C. cavernicola