Blind Plecos

yup well, theres cave systems all over the world, and we don't know exactly how many miles worth, but i know there are a lot.

along with many other animal sp, lack of light gives lighter pigmentation, and over a long period of time, the use of eyes are...well... none. i think these are the only two sp. of blind pleco that have been described, but i may be wrong, so i challenge you to try and find more!

the first pic is anscistrus formoso, and the last 2 pics are ancistrus cryptophthalmus.

the first is found in South America: Buraco do Ducho Cave in Formoso phreatic system.
the second is found in South America: São Vicente and Angélica-Bezerra cave system in upper Paraná River, Tocantins River drainage.

there not a very high profile fish, so here they are, shared with MFK

oh, and Ancistrus formoso are said to reach 7.9 cm and ancistrus cryptophthalmus are said to reach 6 cm, although im not sure how valid this information was

Honda12 said:

Pretty cool, didn't know there were blind plecos. I had a blind bristlenose before but that was do to a dumba$$ cichlid taking his eyes out.

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lol. not quite the same thing. unless he lived in a cave too.

Honda12 said:

Yeah he had a rock cave that he hung out in. He actually lived fine for like a year but died for some reason. He actually could compete with the other bristlenoses. As for that cichlid, he pissed me off so I fed him to a bigger one. Hows that for payback lol.

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yea. anyway these are naturally occuring, and not just a genetic mutation variation (at least not a one off) and not caused by anything like imbreeding. nor eyes being removed lol

info was from fishbase.org, it was the thread on having a dark set up (for blind fish) that reminded me of them, and here they are