Have you ever seen a Texas Blind Salamander (Eurycea rathbuni) in the wild?

My guess is you haven’t but you shouldn’t feel bad. Very few people have. Not only are they exceedingly rare, but their native habitat are only a few underwater caves along the Balcones Fault near San Marcos, Texas.

Our Master Naturalist Chapter had the opportunity to tour the National Fish Hatchery and Technology Center in San Marcos a few years ago. One of the species they have is the Texas Blind Salamander.

Here’s a photograph looking down into one of the many aquariums which house the salamanders.

The first specimens ever collected were from a water well in 1895. They were listed as endangered in 1967.

They have some interesting characteristics. First, since they live in the dark, they have no eyes, although the young have eye spots. Also, they have no color and are almost completely white for the same reason. They also have external gills and you can see them as red or brown feathery structures on each side of their neck.

Texas Blind Salamanders

They lead what is to us, a very alien existence, but not much is actually known about it. It’s thought that they use smell or vibrations to find their way around and to locate food and mates. Can you imagine a life like that?

And what do they eat? Their food source is the other life found in such caves – tiny blind shrimp, crustaceans and snails.

You can see the external gills more clearly in this close up.

Texas Blind Salamander