A Plethora of Senses

This chapter discusses the variety of animal senses, how they work, what they are used for, and why such a staggering array of senses exists in nature. The senses found across animal species, and even among individuals of the same species, vary according to many factors. Animal senses are carefully refined through evolution and development for the things that matter most to them. To accomplish the numerous tasks every individual must perform, the senses are tuned to work best in the habitats where the creature lives and to acquire the best available sources of information. Sometimes, one or more of the senses are exquisitely tuned to a few crucial tasks an animal must perform in order to survive and reproduce successfully. Investment in different senses can also be flexible depending on the conditions under which an animal grows up. Through adaptation over many generations, species like blind cave fish can decrease investment in one sense in favour of another, but individual animals can also do this during their lives.

Status and phylogeny of Milyeringidae (Teleostei: Gobiiformes), withhe description of a new blind cave-fish from Australia, Milyeringa brooksi, n. sp.

A phylogeny of Milyeringidae is reported and a new species, Milyeringa brooksi, is described from Cape Range National Park in the North West Cape (Cape Range Peninsula) of Australia. This species is distinguished on the basis of morphological and molecular characters from its only congener Milyeringa veritas. These diagnostic characters are related to a unique pattern of sensory papillae on the body and synapomorphies in three genes (cytochrome c oxidase I, cytochrome b, and NADH dehydrogenase 2). The new species is known only from the southern portion of the North West Cape spanning roughly 50 kilometers of subterranean habitat. This habitat is exceedingly rare and measures to preserve it and its fauna should be taken.