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Life on the edge: hydrogen sulfide and the fish communities of a Mexican cave and surrounding waters

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Abstract

Most eucaryotic organisms classified as living in an extreme habitat are invertebrates. Here we report of a fish living in a Mexican cave (Cueva del Azufre) that is rich in highly toxic H2S. We compared the water chemistry and fish communities of the cave and several nearby surface streams. Our study revealed high concentrations of H2S in the cave and its outflow (El Azufre). The concentrations of H2S reach more than 300 μM inside the cave, which are acutely toxic for most fishes. In both sulfidic habitats, the diversity of fishes was heavily reduced, and Poecilia mexicana was the dominant species indicating that the presence of H2S has an all-or-none effect, permitting only few species to survive in sulfidic habitats. Compared to habitats without H2S, P. mexicana from the cave and the outflow have a significantly lower body condition. Although there are microhabitats with varying concentrations of H2S within the cave, we could not find a higher fish density in areas with lower concentrations of H2S. We discuss that P. mexicana is one of the few extremophile vertebrates. Our study supports the idea that extreme habitats lead to an impoverished species diversity.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the people of Tapijulapa for their hospitality during our visits. J. Parzefall, M. Schartl, K.E. Körner, and D. Lamatsch provided help during our field trips. J. Parzefall furthermore provided very valuable information. L. Krumholz helped in the lab and provided the infrastructure for sulfide measurements. M. Chumchal provided information on mercury concentrations in mollies. C. Franssen and six anonymous reviewers improved previous versions of the manuscript with their valuable comments. The Mexican Government kindly issued permits to conduct this research (Permiso de pesca de fomento numbers—291002-613-1577, DGOPA/5864/260704/-2408, and DGOPA/16988/191205/-8101). Financial support came from the DFG (SCHL 344/5-3,15-1; PL 470/1-1) and the German Ichthyological Association (to M.T. and M.P.) as well as the Basler Foundation for Biological Research, the Janggen-Poehn-Foundation, the Roche Research Foundation, and the Wolfermann-Nägeli-Foundation (to M.T.). N. Tobler kindly provided the sketch of the collection sites (Fig. 1).

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Author notes

  1. Michael Tobler, Ingo Schlupp & Martin Plath

    Present address: Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, 730 Van Vleet Oval, Norman, OK, 73019, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologisches Institut, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland

    Michael Tobler & Ingo Schlupp

  2. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, PO Box 65, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Katja U. Heubel

  3. Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, 730 Van Vleet Oval, Norman, OK, 73019, USA

    Rüdiger Riesch

  4. Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, S.C., Mar Bermejo No. 195, Col. Playa Palo de Santa Rita, A.P. 128, La Paz, Baja California, 23090, Mexico

    Francisco J. García de León

  5. Biozentrum Grindel, Martin-Luther-King Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Olav Giere

  6. Abteilung für Evolutionsbiologie/Spezielle Zoologie, Institut für Biochemie/Biologie, Universität Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

    Martin Plath

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  1. Michael Tobler
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  2. Ingo Schlupp
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  7. Martin Plath
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Correspondence to Michael Tobler.

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Communicated by K. Horikoshi

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Tobler, M., Schlupp, I., Heubel, K.U. et al. Life on the edge: hydrogen sulfide and the fish communities of a Mexican cave and surrounding waters. Extremophiles 10, 577–585 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-006-0531-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-006-0531-2

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