Subterraneansalamanders , once think to dwell exclusively in their underwater caverns , pass a surprising amount of time aboveground , new research has revealed . The blind beasties , called Proteus anguinus , have been spot venturing out of their underground caves in northerly Italy and scoping thing out at the surface .
The Proteus anguinus ( Proteus anguinus ) arebizarre creatures , once conceive to be baby dragons . After millions of long time spent ( mostly ) in swarthiness , it is effectively unreasoning , has a ghostly pallid complexion , a acuate sense of olfactory perception and hearing , and pilot using galvanising fields . But despite these cave - dwelling specialization , known as troglomorphisms , it seems olms are not rigorously bound to life below the ground .
“ To date , very modified reflexion of olms outside caves are available , ” the researchers write in their paper . And those that have been spotted elsewhere are considered to have been fluke .
However , in 2020 , the squad stumble across one swimming in an aboveground spring , much to their surprise . Investigating further , they realized this was not such a rare natural event as first suspected .
“ circumstantially , olms were repeatedly detected even during the daytime , when conditions of surface habitat ( light , visual vulture happening ) are strike to be in particular unsuitable for cave specialists , ” they write .
Olms were observe in 15 springs in northeasterly Italy , and in one example , a larva was found – an “ exceptional finding ” the squad say . “ To our knowledge , it represents the smallest individual ever find oneself in the field and the only larva found extraneous caves . ” As it was discovered during a period when no flooding could explain its presence there , this could suggest that olm can breed in aboveground springs , although this is gestate to be a low density ( if the suit at all ) .
Even if they are n’t breed at the surface , the researchers suspect the metal money may be fertilise there . They handle 12 Proteus anguinus , five of which upchuck recently eaten earthworms . None of thewormsbelonged to coinage living in underground surroundings such as caves , so the olms must have overeat themselves on earthworms found during an jaunt to the surface .
Despite the huge amount of energy required for an Proteus anguinus to zip up between cave and spring , they do n’t seem to be faring too badly , study source Dr Raoul Manenti toldThe New York Times . While they lean to be on the skinny side at the best of times , some of the olm found at the surface were “ downright plump ” .
These strange salamanders really are full of surprises .
The subject area is published in the journalEcology .
