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Did some caving in Tennessee...

Started by Guest_KPW_* , May 11 2008 11:21 AM

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22 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_KPW_*

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Posted 11 May 2008 - 11:21 AM

The primary target was to see these guys:

Gyrinophilus palleucus necturoides (Big Mouth Cave Salamander)
Posted Image

Some by-catch:

Adult Orconectes australis australis (Southern Cave Crayfish)
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Juvenile Orconectes australis australis (Southern Cave Crayfish)
Posted Image

Also got to see some of these:

Typhlichthys_subterraneus (Southern Cavefish)
Posted Image

Later, KW

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#2 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 11 May 2008 - 01:06 PM

Holey Cool!!!!! Thanks for posting! :cool:

Todd

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#3 Guest_alter40_*

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Posted 11 May 2008 - 01:47 PM

Wow very cool pics!

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#4 Guest_octavio_*

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Posted 11 May 2008 - 01:58 PM

Those are some great pics what type of camera do you have? Thank's for posting them.

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#5 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 11 May 2008 - 06:01 PM

That's all we get?
Come on Kenny, I know you can do better than that.
Give us some habitat shots at least! :mellow:

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#6 Guest_KPW_*

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Posted 11 May 2008 - 06:20 PM

octavio: Nikon D100

mike: I did say I was caving, didn't I? Its dark in those things. Pretty much 58 degree water sitting in a puddle of rocks. This is all I got:

Posted Image

Later, KW

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#7 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 11 May 2008 - 08:52 PM

Yah I got the caving part. That's why I asked for any habitat shots. We don't have caves up here. I've never had the pleasure.
Ever see any signs of prehistoric human activity in those caves?
Cool shot from the cave mouth BTW.

Edited by mikez, 11 May 2008 - 08:53 PM.

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#8 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 11 May 2008 - 10:18 PM

Yeah, that is a beautiful shot!

Todd

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#9 Guest_UncleWillie_*

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Posted 12 May 2008 - 08:58 AM

Beautiful photos! Sounds like a fun and interesting trip. Thanks for posting. The few caves we have around here (Knox county, TN) are so small and you can usually get in and out in an hour - nothing as impressive as that!

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#10 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 12 May 2008 - 10:38 AM

Great shots, KPW!

Uncle Willie- if you're a diver, check out Mead Quarry Cave, immediately adjacent to Forks of the River WMA and Ijam's Nature Center in south Knoxville. Berry Cave Salamanders (Gyrinophilus gulolineatus) in the cave, and freshwater jellyfish in the lake. Good stuff!

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#11 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 10:45 AM

Did you have big spot lights to get these photos to come out? Or were the animals taken outside the cave for the shots and then returned?

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#12 Guest_Mysteryman_*

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 12:44 PM

People can just waltz into this cave and take pictures of the wildlife?
I'm jealous. The only caves we have around here tend to be either too short to even crawl through or completely flooded.

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#13 Guest_UncleWillie_*

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 01:20 PM

Newt, I will most certainly have to check that out. I know where you are talking about (Ijams and the quarry), but I didn't know about the caves. I am assuming you have to have diving gear? If so, that will be tough for me. Maybe I can check it out in August when I return from my job in GA. Sounds pretty cool - freshwater jellies!

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#14 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 07:23 PM

Hopefully Kenny will check back and respond but knowing Kenny, I'll go out on a limb and and make a couple of guesses.
First, on cave access, my bet is Kenny was doing something scientifical and therefore had permits to enter and handle critters.
Second, knowing Kenny, those critters were doing the backstroke in a jar of alcohol minutes after those pics were snapped. :wink:

Edited by mikez, 13 May 2008 - 07:24 PM.

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#15 Guest_KPW_*

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Posted 13 May 2008 - 10:17 PM

Sorry guys, I deleted a pic in my photobucket account and I guess we can't edit posts here. Here it is again plus a few more pics:

Gyrinophilus palleucus necturoides (Big Mouth Cave Salamander)
Posted Image

Gyrinophilus palleucus necturoides (Big Mouth Cave Salamander) juvenile
Posted Image

Someone mentioned the Berry Cave Salamanders of Mead Quarry and the Nature Center:

Gyrinophilus gulolineatus (Berry Cave Salamander)
Posted Image

Somewhat interestingly, the salamander in the picture on the sign at Mead Quarry is not even a Berry Cave Salamander (doh!), but of the related Tennessee Cave Salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus palleucus).

I also wasn't aware that you could dive into the quarry and enter a cave from underneath and see the salamanders. There was a gate on the cave entrance that feeds into the quarry when I was there. That would be pretty cool, but something I think I'd pass on (not too fond of tight spaces as is, adding complete submergence is too much), as there are walk in caves in the area (although they are the muddiest, slickest, most frustrating caves I've ever been in!).

Unclewillie: That cave is big in the entrance, but quickly gets smaller (though the most you'd have to do in most spots is duck crawl for 30 feet). It is a big cave.

Nate: No spot lights, no removing the animals to the entrance. Just a small pocket flashlight and my flash on my camera.

Mysteryman: I'm not aware of any laws against taking pictures of wildlife in the caves (of course, picking them up and dropping them into a tank for shots is on certain species).

Mike: Only the fish went in ethanol, the rest are swimming underground somewhere right now. Not my permit, but I was with another researcher for some of the pics and the collection of the fish and some Amphipods and Colembolla.

Glad you all enjoyed them.

Later, KW

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#16 Guest_bullhead_*

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Posted 15 May 2008 - 01:09 PM

PLEASE! NO CAVE DIVING FOR THE UNTRAINED/INEXPERIENCED!

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#17 Guest_Obsidianslade_*

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Posted 28 October 2008 - 06:18 PM

I am going to Nashville for vacation and heard there are some nice places to go caving, but i don't know where to look. Could anyone tell me of some good locations?

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#18 Guest_joshuapope2001_*

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Posted 28 October 2008 - 09:08 PM

I am impressed.... this is somthing I have always wanted to do.... Just never got the chance...... thanks for the pics of your experience

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#19 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 29 October 2008 - 09:48 AM

I am going to Nashville for vacation and heard there are some nice places to go caving, but i don't know where to look. Could anyone tell me of some good locations?

Are you looking for touristy kinda caves or do you want to do some more serious spelunking? If the latter, you'll have to hook up with a caving group or something; most of those caves are not open to the public except by reservation.

There aren't many caves in the Nashville Basin proper, but if you travel a little further out to the Western Highland Rim you'll find some. Caves that are open to the public include Dunbar Cave in Clarksville, and Ruskin and Jewel Caves in Dickson. If you go further east, to the Plateau, you can visit Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville and Virgin Falls in Sparta.

If you come down 65 you will pass very near Mammoth Cave in KY.

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#20 Guest_Obsidianslade_*

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Posted 29 October 2008 - 11:05 AM

Are you looking for touristy kinda caves or do you want to do some more serious spelunking? If the latter, you'll have to hook up with a caving group or something; most of those caves are not open to the public except by reservation.

There aren't many caves in the Nashville Basin proper, but if you travel a little further out to the Western Highland Rim you'll find some. Caves that are open to the public include Dunbar Cave in Clarksville, and Ruskin and Jewel Caves in Dickson. If you go further east, to the Plateau, you can visit Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville and Virgin Falls in Sparta.

If you come down 65 you will pass very near Mammoth Cave in KY.

Its the latter, I have been to a couple touristy caves in Canada and want try something more serious. Do you know of any caving groups, I read that most were on privitely owned property..?
Thanks for the info on public caves.