This picture was made at Planinksa Jama, a place where the biggest known population of Olms occurs. They live in the huge riverine cave ecosystem of Planinska, which is connected to the famous Postojna Cave, which is classified as a World Heritage Center. The olms are extremely weird cave dwelling creatures who spend their entire life in tha caves. Only after exceptional heavy rainfall and and floodings, they sometimes reach the surface and can be found outside caves. This is how the first specimen was encountered in 1751 after severe floodings. The species was then described as a fish, which explains it's original english name, the 'human fish'. As most of the exclusive cave organisms they have no pigmentation and they are blind. The genus 'proteus' only occurs in the Eastern and Central part of North America and the East-Adriatic Karst region. Proteus anguineus is only found in a small area in Italy and the karst region of Slovenia and Croatia. They only live in slow-flowing and oxygen-rich cave streams, where they mainly live in quiet and blind riverarms. They mainly feed on invertebrata, such as the water woodlouse and small crustacea, and they can survive for long periods without food.
The species is classified on the IUCN Red List as vulnerable, because of it's restricted and fragmented range and it's very specific quality-demanding habitat.