Proteus anguinus

During our exploration dives we often stumbled across a very rare salamander named Proteus anguinus. Also known as the "human fish", Proteus anguinus believed to be found only in the subterranean fresh waters of the Dinaric Alps, preferring underground karst waterways that maintain constantly low water temperatures and that are rich in oxygen. Some of the first sightings were in Slovenian caves, where it has been researched and documented over the years.

Proteus anguinus has pale skin. Specimen colours range from white to a slight pink that is a very similar colour to that of Caucasian human being's-hence the creature's name. Its tiny eyes can only be seen during the fetal stage; afterwards they are covered over by skin. Its head is stretched out with a curved snout. Its front legs have three toes; its rear legs, two. The animal's flat tail is used for swimming and is notably shorter than the body. This powerful tail enables it to swim very fast through underwater conduits as we discovered when trying to video one. Roughly 20-30cm long. Proteus anguinus is the largest cave being in the world and lives submerged in water its entire life, breathing with gills, even though it has undeveloped lungs.

Proteus anguinus