Proteus anguinus is a cave salamander. Its body is long, skinny. The size of this animal is about 8-12in long. Its' color is yellowish and white with shades of pink. There are many adaptations: photoreceptors, chemo-receptors, mechano-receptors, and electroreceptors, because the salamander is located in dark caves and can only perceive things in the dark.

 

Cave salamander typically eats small arthropods and other invertebrates at night when it hunts. These include crabs, snails, and insects. It does not chew its' food, but it just swallows. It could starve for a long time and can consume  large amounts of foods at once. They can survive up to 10 years without food.

 

The cave salamander is an amphibian with a normal appearance, shaped by several million years of living in the dark. It is found in Central European countries such as Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Italy, and Slovenia. It lives in an underground fresh well oxygenated with the water. The water temperature is usually cool between six degrees Celsius and twelve degrees Celsius.

 

There is little information on this species. The number of individuals is the very low and it is decreasing. The cave salamander is mostly dependent on clean water, which means it is pollution free. The major threats of it are the changes of forested and pastoral land systems caused by tourism and economic changes, which increases the water pollution.

 

The Proteus anguinus looks like a human but it’s an animal it can even be called human fish. I learned a lot about this animal because I never heard of it until now. I still think it is ugly though.

 

Author: Diana Z

Publish: 2/2010

 

Sources: www.showcaves.com/english/explain/.../ProteusAnguinus.html

http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?query_src=aw_lists_genera_&where-genus=Proteus&where-species=anguinus