The Satan fish (Satan eurystomus) is a species of freshwater North American catfish found only in Texas. This fish got this name for its eerie appearance, it is completely colorless and translucent and it has no visible eyes (rudimentary eyes are covered with skin). She also has not a bony, but a cartilaginous skull, and a swim bladder is slightly smaller than that of her closest relatives.
The Satan fish is a predator, but fortunately for humans, it is small in size, only 13 cm long.
This little Satan lives in underground artesian wells near the city of San Antonio. It was discovered back in 1947, but until now this species is very poorly studied due to its inaccessibility and enormous rarity. By now, this fish may have already completely died out, since no one has met it for a long time.
According to the KSAT television channel, the Satan catfish has not fallen into the hands of scientists since 1984, and the universities of Texas confirmed that neither in 2006 nor in 2010, despite careful searches by biologists, no fish could be found. Therefore, a new group of enthusiasts wants now to start another search for this fish, and for this they first need to find a source for funding.
- Fish-Satan is incredibly cool creature. Most of San Antonio's residents have no idea what unique creature lives beneath them in deep water caves, says Dean Hendrickson, curator of the Department of Ichthyology at the University of Austin, Texas and one of the participants in the future expedition.
If the idea of scientists is approved, the experts hope to carefully examine the underground reservoirs and, if they are lucky, get the catfish-Satan for further research. This species can "tell" a lot to scientists about the ecosystem in which it lives and why the number of these catfish has dropped critically.