Typhlonectes natans
species of amphibian
Typhlonectes natans, called the rubber eel or Rio Rauca caecilian, is a species of caecilian in the family Typhlonectidae found in Colombia, Venezuela, and possibly Trinidad and Tobago.
Its natural habitats are dry savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, and rivers. T. natans is commonly kept as an aquarium pet, and is sometimes sold as a "fish" in aquarium stores.
A specimen of T. natans was found in October 2019 in Miami-Dade County, Florida, making it the first caecilian to be collected in North America. Subsequently many more specimens were collected in the same area at different life stages and with evidence of breeding, suggesting the species may become established.
They grow to 45 to 55 centimetres (18 to 22 in) in length. They are dark grey to black in color. While T. natans can and occasionally does breathe air at the surface, most of its respiration takes place through its skin.
The species is ovoviviparous, giving birth to young in water. The gestation period lasts about 220 days.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Typhlonectes natans” as species of amphibian. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of amphibian. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2249158. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2019.
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This entry incorporates text from “Typhlonectes natans” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.