It might sound like we’re describing some legit sci-fi sorta stuff straight off the silver screen, but we assure you that this place is not only absolutely real, but also impressively accessible from the Las Vegas Strip itself and most places in southern California. Crazy, right? When, in 1966, the Endangered Species Preservation Act became a thing, the findings of Miller’s extensive studies decades earlier earned the Devils Hole Desert Pupfish first place in line at the protection office. By the 1960s, hydrogeologists realized this location was unlike anywhere else on Planet Earth and installed hydrographical instruments to keep tabs on what was going down beneath the surface. Suddenly, the word was out: this place was cool. As the years went by, this southern section of Nevada drew more and more attention-partially because it’s straight-up visually stunning (you know what I’m talking about if you’ve been lucky enough to visit), but also because, in 1952, the area found itself newly protected when President Truman granted Death Valley its National Monument status. The Devils Hole Desert Pupfish was already on the radar of desert dwellers and scientists back in the 1930s, prompting the unwavering research of Ichthyologist Robert Rush Miller to shine a light on this incredibly fascinating and tremendously rare species of fish. Devils Hole Desert Pupfish Ash Meadows Visitor Center There are different types of Desert Pupfish, sure, but the Devils Hole variety (Cyprinodon diabolis, if you want to get technical) has only about 100-ish individuals left in existence, all living together in the smallest, and probably most unique habitat of any known vertebrate species on earth. There is so much to write home about the Devils Hole Desert Pupfish and its crazy-alluring environment, so-please-read on! But if you take away one thing-and one thing only-let it be this: it’s the rarest fish in the whole world. However, everything going on with the Devils Hole Desert Pupfish encompasses both, arming you with plenty of reason to set some days aside-heck, even a Tuesday-to understand and live this whole excursion for yourself. Pupfish range in color from silvery-brown to silvery-blue.There are days when life just throws you a luxurious moment, like the kind where you suddenly come to grips with being in an extraordinary place, or where you find yourself crossing paths with a type of wildlife that doesn’t exactly occupy your normal, any-old-kinda Tuesday. No one is sure exactly why they do this, but it may be to dislodge food from the mud.Īnatomy: The Pupfish is a tiny fish, about 2 to 2 1/2 inches (5-6.5 cm) long. Some pupfish engage in "pit digging," in which the fish rests at the water's bottom and wiggles its body in order to to churn up the mud and sand.
Most pupfish have a life span of less than one year.ĭiet: Pupfish eat diatoms (microscopic unicellular algae with a hard cell wall), algae, and small aquatic invertebrates (like amphipods, gastropods, and ostracods). During the coldest parts of winter, pupfish burrow into the muddy bottom and become dormant until the weather warms up.
Only a few bodies of water do not dry up completely, so very few pupfish survive. Lifecycle: Towards the end of summer, most desert pools and other desert waters dry up, killing most pupfish. Many types of pupfish are endangered species due to a loss of habitat and to competition from exotic species of fish that have been introduced to their habitat. Pupfish are found in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts (in northwestern Mexico, southern California, USA, and Arizona, USA).
The Pupfish, genus Cyprinodon, is a tiny fish that lives in springs, ponds, marshes, and slow-flowing streams in the deserts of southwestern North America.
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