Jump to content

Olm

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olm
Olms in Postojna Cave, Slovenia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Subclass:
Order:
Family:
Genus:
Proteus
Species:
P. anguinus
Binomial name
Proteus anguinus
Laurenti, 1768
Subspecies
  • Proteus anguinus anguinus

Laurenti, 1768

  • Proteus anguinus parkelj

Sket & Arntzen, 1994

The olm or proteus (Proteus anguinus) is an amphibian, native to the underground waters of the Dinaric karst that flow through the Soča river basin near Trieste in Italy, through to southern Slovenia, southwestern Croatia, and Herzegovina. It is the only species in the genus Proteus, the only European species of the family Proteidae, and the only European cave-dwelling chordate. It is also called the human fish or humanfish, because of its human-like skin (translated literally from Slovenian: Človeška ribica and Croatian: Čovječja ribica), Cave Salamander, or White Salamander.