Only Three Are Known To Exist: China’s Mysterious Eyeless Cave Snail

Scientists have discovered China’s first known freshwater cave snail, an eyeless species so rare that only three living adults have been found. The tiny freshwater snail has no eyes, almost no color, and a translucent shell that reveals its delicate body beneath. The newly identified species, Erhaia dijiang, is the first freshwater cave snail ever documented in China. Its presence shows that freshwater cave snails can survive in high-altitude karst systems more than 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) above sea level. Life Inside a High-Altitude Karst CaveErhaia dijiang lives among gravel and broken stone in shallow cave water less than one meter (3.3 feet) deep.