Ever wanted to meet Satan? You can - 1,200 feet (365m) below the surface of San Antonio, Texas. Satan lives in the rocks, or more specifically, in the long and dark crevasses, rivers, and caves carved out of the rocks the rocks. In those crevasses lays the Edwards Aquifer [top image]. This aquifer is split into two biomes - the "Good Water" zone, where there is low salinity and high oxygenation, and the "Bad Water" zone, which has water which is brackish, sulfuric, and anaerobic (lacks oxygen).

These two zones meet at a steep drop off, which runs close to Interstate 35, where the aquifer plunges down to 3,000 feet (915m) below the surface, and this mixing zone is where the Widemouth blindcat (Satan eurystomas) is king - the top predator of its biome.

Despite extensive work being done to preserve the habitat of several endangered species known to exist in the aquifer and headwaters, such as the Texas blind salamander (Eurcea rathbuni) and fountain darter (Etheostoma fonticola), very little is known about the Widemouth blindcat, due to its extreme depth and generally inaccessible habitat. Despite having few specimens to work from, we do know that this species is probably most closely related to the flathead catfish [bottom image] (Pylodictis olivaris), and has the strong jaw, well-developed teeth, and barbels of its nearest relative. Unlike the often-massive flathead, the maximum size of the blindfish is estimated to be around 6 inches (14 cm).

Like most animals adapted to cave life, Satan eurystomas has no pigment in its skin, no eyes (its optic tract is present in the brain, but never forms eyeballs), and is partially neotenous. In addition to these adaptations, this fish also has a reduced swim bladder that is largely composed of fatty tissue, probably as a result of the great pressure it lives under.

While current populations are believed to be relatively stable, the conservation efforts to save the more charismatic Texas blind salamander have also been helping the blindcat. Because they have such a limited range, depletion of the aquifer or introduction of pollution into their habitat could easily lead to extinction.

Sources:

On pandas, preservation, and personal opinions.

Just because I advocate preserving ecologically necessary species like frogs and fish low on the food chain doesn't mean I hate Giant Pandas, guys.

It's just that we only have a limited amount of money, and have to divvy it up accordingly...

But giant pandas are still cool, and I'm totally in favor of keeping them around if it doesn't drain an excess of our conservation money! They're adorable, and the wild ones are vicious to humans, and their diet and sesamoid-bone"thumb" is an amazing example of very quickly-adapting evolutionary movement in carnivores.

Besides, who could hate panda cubs?

Strigops habroptila - The Kakapo

Kakapos have the smallest relative wing size of any parrot, and are also the heaviest parrots out there. Unlike other ground-dwelling birds, they actually have the ability to store fat for future use, and this has given them a quite rotund shape overall. Even in lean times, the kakapo is a huge bird, and did quite well for itself before humans arrived. Even before European colonists landed on the South Island of New Zealand, the native Maori used kakapo feathers (which are incredibly soft, as they don't need to sustain flight) and kakapo meat at a rate that was unsustainable for a continuing population. However, the rate of decline during that period was relatively slow - though the kakapo would have eventually been hunted out, it was not in any immediate threat.

Unfortunately for the great owl parrot, their musky smell and lack of defenses made them easy targets for newly introduced predators and hunters, and the population crashed so quickly that the Kakapo was one of the first animals to have a conservation plan put into place to try and stop the decimation of the masses. Though the conservation plans helped keep the birds safe from humans, the introduced dogs, cats, ferrets, and rats, all continued to wreak havoc.

Today, there are only 127 living kakapos, and their continued survival is far from assured. Their evolutionary history and unique physiology and behavior (not to mention their very important cultural position in Ngai Tahu society) make their possible extinction that much more important to try and prevent.

A History of the Birds of New Zealand. W.L. Buller, 1888.

1. Risso's Dolphin

2. Beluga Whale

3. Narwhal

4. Chinese River Dolphin [Baiji]

The Baiji is now thought to be completely extinct. It was declared functionally extinct in 2006, since there were no populations of the species left, and the few recent sightings (as in the past 10 years) were of solitary dolphins that were already clearly high in age.

The sad truth is that any large animal hoping to live within the Yangtze catchment area is probably not going to make it. Over 12% of the world's population lives in that comparatively tiny zone, and damming the river, allowing heavy pollution, and re-routing the water for agriculture, makes it an extremely harsh environment.

Despite the extinction of one of the world's four fresh-water dolphins, the other dolphin that lives near China,  the Chinese White Dolphin, is actually stable in population right now. Thanks to eco-tourism and Hong Kong-based dolphin watching boat trips, it's far more profitable to support the population and help bolster it, than to hunt it for the comparatively small amount of food it can bring in.

Field Book of Giant Fishes. J. R. Norman and F. C. Fraser, 1896.

New Land Shells from Taviuni [Taveuni] - Click through to greatly enlarge these teeny guys!

These little snails are from the third-largest Figian island, Tavenui. Tavenui is one of the best-preserved islands of the Fiji archipelago, as the population is almost entirely indigenous populations (living a simple sustenance lifestyle), and foreign predators like the mongoose have never gotten a foothold. Luckily, as the business of ecotourism continues to expand, the incentive to keep the island (and its native flora & fauna) intact. The rich volcanic soil that comprises the island would otherwise likely be exploited for palm oil and coconut production.

I'll take awesome teeny snails, unique fruit bats, orange doves, and Kula parrots over a few tons of palm oil any day.

From Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London for the year 1876.