The Proteus or Olm (Proteus anguinus) is an endemic amphibian animal, found in karst areas of the Dinaric Alps.
The animal is white or slightly pink and has small extremities with two toes on the hind leg and three toes on the foreleg. Due to its fair complexion, it is locally referred to as "human fishlet" or "humanoid fish". Locals have also mistaken them for immature dragons. External gills are also present in adult forms. It is usually 25-30 centimetres long. Due to its subterranean life the Olm's eyes have degenerated and are covered by skin.
The Olm lives in subterranean freshwater lakes and brooks of the karst areas of the Dinaric Alps along the Adriatic coast of northeastern Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina to Montenegro. The subspecies Proteus anguinus parkelj (Black Olm) is only found in Bela krajina of southern Slovenia.
Olms feed on small crustaceans and worms which the Olms locate with their olfactory sense.
Olms can go for years without feeding as their extremely slow metabolisms allows them to remain dormant for extremely long periods of time. In one reported case, an olm was placed in a jar in a refrigerator for more than a decade. It was reportedly still alive when finally removed, though with severe damage to its internal organs, including the reabsorbtion of its own digestive tract for sustenance.[[1]]
It is a common myth that the Olm dies when it is placed in full daylight or in water temperatures higher than the 10°C of its natural habitat. In reality an Olm could live in laboratories in normal light in water of up to 30°C. The Olm slowly changes its color to brown or black in light, and slowly changes back to a pale white once placed back into the dark.
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