| Proteus | prop. n. [ L., Gr. &unr_;. ] 1. (Class. Myth.) A sea god in the service of Neptune who assumed different shapes at will. Hence, one who easily changes his appearance or principles. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. (Zool.) A genus of aquatic eel-shaped amphibians of the family Proteidae of the order Urodela, found in caves in the karst regions near the Adriatic from Trieste to Montenegro (including Slovenia, Croatia, and Herzegovina); also called the Olm, White Salamander, and Human fish; it is a true troglobiont (cave animal). They have permanent external gills as well as lungs. The vestigial eyes are small and can only perceive light and dark; the legs are weak. Some were reported in Germany and France, apparently due to human intervention. It was known to Charles Darwin who wrote about cave animals in The Origin of Species, chapter 5. [ 1913 Webster + PJC ] The unusual Olm (Proteus anguinus, aka Cave Salamander, although no relation to the Hydromantes spp) is the only European member of the Proteidae family, the rest occurring in America. This species was only discovered in 1875 and even today is only known in about fifty caves in the limestone mountains of the region, plus one isolated location in Italy. Olms are characterised by an elongated body, white unpigmented skin, three pairs of external gills and vestigial, skin-covered eyes which can only perceive light and shadow. The Olm hunts aquatic crustaceans such as water fleas mainly by sensory organs in the skin. If washed out of their caves by heavy rainfall, olms will collect in deep pools, but they will not voluntarily leave the water. At the same time they have lungs and drown if they cannot surface at some point for air. The optimum water temperature for this species is 5-10 C. Females normally give birth to two larvae, but curiously enough if the water is warm enough (about 15 deg C) they can lay up to 80 eggs instead. A lot is still undiscovered about the lives of these mysterious creatures. https://web.archive.org/web/20031003060620/http://www.nafcon.dircon.co.uk/euro_urodela.html [ PJC ] 3. A changeable protozoan; an amoeba. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. A genus of gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria, including some species pathogenic in man. [ PJC ] |
