Caecobarbus geertsii

Description

Caecobarbus geertsi, the African blind barb or Congo blind barb (known as Nzonzi a mpofo in the local Kikongo language, meaning blind barb), is a species of cyprinid fish. This threatened cavefish is only known from Democratic Republic of the Congo, and it is the only member of the monotypic genus Caecobarbus. It was George Albert Boulenger who described this fish in 1921 and it completely lacks close relatives in the Congo region. Despite its common name, "African blind barb," there are other blind cave cyprinids indigenous to Africa, notably the Somalian Barbopsis devecchi and Phreatichthys andruzzii.