Rare eyeless catfish found in U.S. for first time in a Texas cave

Researchers in Texas have discovered an extremely rare, eyeless catfish once thought only to exist in Mexico. A pair of the endangered Mexican blindcat (Prietella phreatophila) was discovered in the depths of a limestone cave at Amistad National Recreation Area near Del Rio, Texas. The pair has since been moved to the San Antonio Zoo. “Since the 1960s, there have been rumors of sightings of blind, white catfishes in that area, but this is the first confirmation,” Dean Hendrickson, curator of ichthyology at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a press release. “I’ve seen more of these things than anybody, and these specimens look just like the ones from Mexico.” The Mexican blindcat is a species that grows no more than 3 inches