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Shining a light on mysterious underwater cave creatures

Cave ecologist Fernando Calderón Gutiérrez is studying the resilience of cave-adapted species in the face of climate change and other stressors.
By
  1. Amanda Heidt

    1. Amanda Heidt is a freelance writer and editor in Moab, Utah.

Fernando Calderón-Gutiérrez, an underwater cave ecologist, dives and studies the organisms in the coastal caves of Mexico.

Fernando Calderón Gutiérrez is a marine biologist at Texas A&M University in San Antonio. Credit: Natalie L Gibb for Nature

I was always interested in biology, but it wasn’t until I saw a film about cave diving in secondary school — in which I watched divers glide past massive stalactites — that I realized I wanted to study cave fauna. The video didn’t mention the creatures inhabiting those underwater chambers, but I knew they must be there. More than just naming them, I wanted to understand their ecology, which meant I needed to study them in their natural habitat.

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Nature 619, 428 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02155-x

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