Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The local name of the blind cave-salamander, Proteus anguinus, of Carniola, adopted as a common name. See cut at Proteus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A European cave-dwelling aquatic salamander (Proteus anguinus) with permanent external gills.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a cave-dwelling amphibian, Proteus anguinus of the genus Proteus, having external gills; it is found along the coast from northeastern Italy to Montenegro

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun European aquatic salamander with permanent external gills that lives in caves

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In the caves of Slovenia, he encounters the peculiar creature known as the olm, a cave-dwelling blind salamander once believed to be a baby dragon.

    Archive 2009-01-01 2009

  • In the caves of Slovenia, he encounters the peculiar creature known as the olm, a cave-dwelling blind salamander once believed to be a baby dragon.

    dragonTV! 2009

  • The olm is a snake-like creature 25-30 cm long and weighing only up to 20 grams.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • The olm is a snake-like creature 25-30 cm long and weighing only up to 20 grams.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • The blind salamander (Proteus anguinus), also known as the olm, has the longest lifespan of any amphibian, often living to over 70 in zoos, and with a predicted maximum age of over 100.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • The blind salamander (Proteus anguinus), also known as the olm, has the longest lifespan of any amphibian, often living to over 70 in zoos, and with a predicted maximum age of over 100.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • The olm is a Europe’s only cave adapted vertebrate, and has numerous adaptations for an underground life.

    Reduced Hotel Rates for the Nebula Awards maryrobinette 2009

  • In the world of real life is freaky, check out the olm, which even has a name suited for a fantasy.

    Reduced Hotel Rates for the Nebula Awards maryrobinette 2009

  • If this is correct it may be that the different White olm populations represent different species which resemble one another by convergent evolution, and which have partly or mostly fused as they have met up within the Dinaric karst system.

    Archive 2006-03-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • When salamanders invaded the Dinaric Karst: convergence, history, and reinvention of the troglobitic olm

    Archive 2006-03-01 Darren Naish 2006

Comments

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  • September 5, 2007

  • Eeewwwww! And yet strangely fascinating.... :-)

    September 6, 2007

  • Pronounced like "om" I presume...

    September 7, 2007

  • In Slovenia this little beast is famous, because it lives in that country's famous caves, notably Postojna. Slovenes like to call it the "human fish" (človeška ribica) because its color reminds them of Caucasian human skin.

    December 1, 2007

  • Unusual amphibian of subterranean (caves) waters of Italy, Croatia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia.

    February 20, 2010