Olms live in deep underwater caves and can go years without food
The amphibians conserve energy by not moving and can be stationary for years
One animal was found in the exact same place after a total of 2,569 days
By Joe Pinkstone for Mailonline, 2/4/20
A rare cave-dwelling salamander has been found in the exact same spot after more than seven years, and scientists think it has not moved at all in that time.
Scientists swam to the underwater cave where 19 of the salamanders, known as olms, live in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Several dives over eight years tracked their movement and found most moved less than 33 ft (10m) between 2010 and 2018, and around 16ft (5m) was the norm.
The most active olm moved 38 metres in just 230 days while one was found at the exact same spot after 2,569 days.
Little is known about the creatures as most of the previous studies on them have been done in laboratories but researchers believe one animal in an underwater cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina didn't move for 2,569 days”
Little is known about the creatures as most of the previous studies on them have been done in laboratories but researchers believe one animal in an underwater cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina didn't move for 2,569 days
WHAT ARE OLMS?
The olm is a blind, cave-dwelling salamander, also called the proteus and the 'human fish’.
The olm was once described as a baby dragon on account of its small, snake-like body
It is thought they conserve energy to a maximum and only move to mate, which happens once every 12.5 years.
They have evolved a translucent skin and no longer develop working eyes as they live in the pitch black world of underwater caves.
They can live for several decades, with the average life expectancy of 70 and a maximum lifespan of more than 100 years.
Researchers tagged 19 olms in the cave system with a harmless ink that made them identifiable.
They then returned eight years later and assessed how far they had moved.
The researchers do state it is possible the animals moved between assessments and returned to the same spot, but don't know enough about their daily routines in the wild.
The amphibians are well-adapted to a stationary lifestyle.
It is thought they conserve energy to a maximum and only move to mate, which happens once every 12.5 years.
They can live for several decades, and some believe up to a century.
They have evolved a translucent skin and no longer develop working eyes as they live in the pitch black world of underwater caves.
Olms have evolved a translucent skin and no longer develop working eyes as they live in the pitch black world of underwater caves
"Olms retain the red, feathery gills of its larval form even when it becomes sexually mature at adolescence pictured). It stays this way for the rest of its remarkably long life.”
Olms retain the red, feathery gills of its larval form even when it becomes sexually mature at adolescence pictured). It stays this way for the rest of its remarkably long life.
'They are hanging around, doing almost nothing,' Dr Balázs told
Olms can survive years without food and feed on small crustaceans which are uncommon.
Little is known about the creatures as most of the previous studies on them have been done in laboratories.
Therefore, researchers have sparse data to tell them how the creature live in the natural habitat.
Gábor Herczeg from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, who co-authored the study in the Journal of Zoology, said: 'We do not know the daily activity.'
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