Canary blind cave shrimp

Several species of squat lobsters and shrimp inhabit the darkened recesses of the Cueva de los Verdes tube, exploiting bacterial mats that colonise the basalt walls. The absence of photosynthesis-based primary production means the cave food web depends entirely on organic material swept in from the Atlantic entrance. Populations living deepest in the tube are partially depigmented compared with their open-reef relatives, a trait that develops within a few generations when individuals colonise dark habitat.