Cave salamander research. Researcher using a pipette to remove cave salamander (Proteus anguinus) eggs from an aquarium in an underground laboratory. The cave salamander is a rare amphibian found only in caves along the Adriatic coasts of Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It mainly lives in the dark and although it has eyes, they are covered in skin, making it blind. There is no pigment in its skin, making its internal organs visible. It feeds on insect larvae, molluscs and crustaceans, detecting its prey from chemicals in the water. It has both gills and lungs. It can grow up to 30 centimetres in length.