Caecilians (Gymnophiona)

This group gathers Amphibians subcategory members belonging to the order Gymnophiona, the caecilians, the least familiar and least frequently seen of the three living amphibian orders, limbless, largely blind, burrowing animals whose superficially worm-like or snake-like body plan has led to frequent confusion with true worms and snakes despite no close relation to either. Found across tropical regions of Africa, Asia and the Americas, caecilians spend most of their lives underground or, in some species, in fresh water, using a muscular, compact skull to burrow through soil and a pair of small sensory tentacles between the eye and nostril, found in no other amphibian order, to detect prey by touch and chemical cues in place of eyesight nearly lost to a life spent in darkness. Reproduction varies unusually widely across the order even by amphibian standards, spanning egg-laying species, live-bearing species, and, in several species, young that feed on a specialized outer layer of their mother's skin.