This eyeless cavefish grows extra taste buds
UC research on blind cavefish featured in Popular Science and other national publications
Blind cavefish start to increase the number and location of taste buds — to the head and chin — at 5 months, according to a recent study led by biologist Joshua Gross, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.
The research, which appears in Communications Biology, was picked up by several national science news outlets to include Popular Science and Earth.com.
Gross has been studying cavefish for years at UC. “They make an excellent model to examine regressive evolution, the process by which animals lose features over generations,” he says of prior studies that focused on the loss of sight and pigmentation.
The recent study, however, identifies when Mexican cavefish gain extra oral tastebuds and the progression of this gain into adulthood.
“Regression, such as the loss of eyesight and pigmentation, is a well-studied phenomenon, but the biological bases of constructive features are less well understood,” says Gross.
Read more about the study on the UC website: Blind cavefish have extraordinary taste buds
Media coverage:
Popular Science: The eyeless cavefish grows extra taste buds on its head
Earth.com: Blind cavefish lost their eyes, but gained taste buds on their head
Featured image at top of cavefish. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand.
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
Is a colonoscopy painful?
May 13, 2026
The University of Cincinnati's Susan Kais, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in the College of Medicine and UC Health gastroenterologist, recently appeared on the ARC Cincinnati morning program on Local 12/WKRC-TV to answer common questions from viewers about colonoscopies and to dispel myths.
Telescope captures information about lonely Jupiter-like gas giant
May 13, 2026
Science outlets highlight a University of Cincinnati student's collaborative discoveries about an exoplanet 901 light years away.
UC achieves first-in-world remission of aggressive pituitary tumor with novel immunotherapy
May 13, 2026
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience Institute’s Brain Tumor Center have been confirmed as the first in the world to achieve complete remission of a rare pituitary cancer using a novel immunotherapy treatment. The findings were published in Surgical Neurology International and recently featured in The Cancer Letter.