Name: Clues to prehistoric times, found in blind cavefish
Uploaded: 2016-06-30T15:18:38Z
Duration: 4 min 39 s
Description: TED Fellow Prosanta Chakrabarty explores hidden parts of the world in search of new species of cave-dwelling fish. These subterranean creatures have developed fascinating adaptations, and they provide biological insights into blindness as well as geological clues about how the continents broke apart million of years ago. Contemplate deep time in this short talk.

Prosanta Chakrabarty: Clues to prehistoric times, found in blind cavefish

Clues to prehistoric times, found in blind cavefish

TED Fellow Prosanta Chakrabarty explores hidden parts of the world in search of new species of cave-dwelling fish. These subterranean creatures have developed fascinating adaptations, and they provide biological insights into blindness as well as geological clues about how the continents broke apart million of years ago. Contemplate deep time in this short talk.

Blind cavefish hold clues to both the evolution of vision and the shifting of continents over millions of years. Some species in Madagascar are more closely related to fish in Australia than to those nearby, evidence that continents moved rather than the fish themselves. The genetic adaptations in these species even help scientists understand how blindness develops. Rapid habitat loss threatens these rare creatures, sometimes before their closest relatives are even discovered.