The Land of Oz
Welcome to the Land of Oz! Throughout this page we will be discussing the specific habitat occupied by the Ozark cavefish.
The Ozark cavefish primarily lives in fresh water, cave
environments. This fish lives its entire life in
concealed waters, meaning that it lives in the bottommost part
of the springs within these caves. Typically, the Ozark cavefish
population occupies underwater channels within an aquifer inside
the cave (Oklahoma Department of Conservation (ODOWC), 2011). Organisms that occupy this subterranean
lifestyle are called troglobites (Johnston, 2011). These fish
are extremely well-adapted to underwater life in the dark (MDC,
2014). The Ozark cavefish is
so incredibly specialized to its environment that the water it
lives in must have a temperature between 12.8 and 15.6˚C
(Johnston, 2014) in order for the fish to sustain life. The
fresh water that inhabits these locations comes
from the ground and surges into the cave cavity (Johnston,
2014). It is relatively difficult to examine an Ozark cavefish
in its natural habitat, because of the fact that it lives in the
bottommost part of the body of water within the cave. Most of the time, the
only way for people to visibly see an Ozark cavefish is to wait
until the fish moves into a visible stream or spring within a cave,
rather than the hidden aquifers they typically reside in. Because of the limited access
to the caves and its specialized environment,
there are
not many organisms that occupy the same habitat as the
Ozark cavefish (Johnston, 2014). The springs, caves and streams
that these fish live in, have to contain at least one of two
required materials in order for the fish to dwell in those areas. These
two required materials include limestone and/or dolomite,
typically found embedded in the cave foundation. The Ozark
cavefish does not require both limestone and dolomite at the
same time in order to maintain their lifestyle. If one of the
two requirements are present, the Ozark cavefish is able to
reside there comfortably (MDC, 2014). Specifically, the area
that meets the high demand needs of the Ozark cavefish is the Springfield
Plateau found in the
Ozark Highlands. The
Springfield Plateau is found in parts of southwestern Missouri,
northwestern Arkansas and
northeastern Oklahoma, as shown in the United States map above (MDC, 2014). These three states are the only known
locations where the Ozark cavefish has been found (Johnston, 2014).
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