Water Parameters and Hydrodynamics in Rivers and Caves Hosting Astyanax mexicanus Populations Reveal Macro-, Meso- and Microhabitat Characteristics.

ABSTRACT: The Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus) has emerged as a leading model for evolutionary biology and the study of adaptation to extreme subterranean environments. The river-dwelling morph of the species is distributed in Mexico and Texas, while the blind and cave-adapted morph inhabits the karstic caves of the Sierra Madre Oriental in northeastern Mexico. The molecular, cellular, and genetic underpinnings of Astyanax cavefish evolution are increasingly studied, but our understanding of its habitat and environment is incomplete, limiting the interpretations of its morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations. Notably, knowledge on the physicochemical parameters of the water is dispersed, and the hydrological regimes to which cavefish are subjected are largely unexplo

SUBMITTER: Legendre L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12832201 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature