Buried-Eyed Caecilians: Scolecomorphidae

Buried-eyed caecilians are excellent burrowers. They pump their tentacles in and out when they are moving and otherwise investigating their surroundings. Their tentacles are thought to be sense organs for "tasting" their immediate surroundings. Because they have found bite marks on male caecilians in captivity and in nature, scientists believe the males fight one another for mates and for territory.

Some buried-eyed caecilians give birth to live young. After mating, the female keeps the fertilized (FUR-teh-lyzed) eggs, or those that have joined with sperm, inside her in egg tubes. Scientists believe the egg tubes make a nutritious liquid that the developing young eat with special teeth that are lost after they are born. These teeth are comblike, and they also may be used to stimulate the egg tube to secrete the "milk" near the mouth of the feeding young. Scientists believe the species of buried-eyed caecilians that do not give birth to fully developed young are egg layers. The young develop inside the eggs but have the adult body form when they hatch. Scientists believe the female takes care of the eggs until they hatch.