The Death Valley pupfish, also known as Salt Creek pupfish, is a small species of fish in the family Cyprinodontidae found only in Death Valley National Park, California, United States. There are two recognized subspecies: C. s. salinus and C. s. milleri. The Death Valley pupfish is endemic to two small, isolated locations and currently classified as endangered.
The Amargosa River is an intermittent waterway, 185 miles (298 km) long, in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States. The Amargosa River is one out of two rivers located in the California portion of the Mojave Desert with perennial flow. It drains a high desert region, the Amargosa Valley in the Amargosa Desert northwest of Las Vegas, into the Mojave Desert, and finally into Death Valley where it disappears into the ground aquifer. Except for a small portion of its route in the Amargosa Canyon in California and a small portion at Beatty, Nevada, the river flows above ground only after a rare rainstorm washes the region. A 26-mile (42 km) stretch of the river between Shoshone and Dumont Dunes is protected as a National Wild and Scenic River. At the south end of Tecopa Valley the Amargosa River Natural Area protects the habitat.
The Tecopa pupfish is an extinct subspecies of the Amargosa pupfish. The small, heat-tolerant pupfish was endemic to the outflows of a pair of hot springs in the Mojave Desert of Inyo County, California. Habitat modifications, the introduction of non-native species and hybridization with the related Amargosa River pupfish led to its extinction around 1979.
The Shoshone pupfish is a subspecies of Amargosa pupfish from California in the United States. They are spring-dwelling fish, endemic to Shoshone Springs on the outskirts of Shoshone, Inyo County, California. In 1969, the Shoshone pupfish was declared extinct until their eventual rediscovery by a team of biologists during a survey of Shoshone Springs in 1986. Currently, they are listed as endangered by the American Fisheries Society and are a species of special concern according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Several stocks of the fish are being cultivated in captivity at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and University of California, Davis for reintroduction into the Shoshone Spring. Today, people pass through the town of Shoshone to visit the spring site and view the rare pupfish, where some infographics and signs educate visitors about them.
The Devils Hole pupfish is a critically endangered species of the family Cyprinodontidae (pupfishes) found only in Devils Hole, a water-filled cavern in the US state of Nevada. It was first described as a species in 1930 and is most closely related to C. nevadensis and the Death Valley pupfish. The age of the species is unknown, with differing analyses offering ranges between one thousand and sixty thousand years. It is a small fish, with maximum lengths of up to 30 mm (1.2 in). Individuals vary in coloration based on age and sex: males are bright metallic blue while females and juveniles are more yellow. A defining trait of this species is its lack of pelvic fins. The pupfish consumes nearly every available food resource at Devils Hole, including beetles, snails, algae, and freshwater crustaceans, with diet varying throughout the year. It is preyed on by the predaceous diving beetle species Neoclypeodytes cinctellus, which was first observed in Devils Hole in 1999 or 2000. Reproduction occurs year-round, with spikes in the spring and fall. Females produce few eggs and the survivorship from egg to adult is low. Individuals live 10–14 months.
Pupfish are a group of small killifish belonging to ten genera of the family Cyprinodontidae of ray-finned fish. Pupfish are especially noted for being found in extreme and isolated situations. They are primarily found in North America, South America, and the Caribbean region. As of August 2006, 120 nominal species and 9 subspecies were known. Several pupfish species are extinct and most extant species are listed. In the U.S., the most well-known pupfish species may be the Devils Hole pupfish, native to Devils Hole on the Nevada side of Death Valley National Park. Since 1995 the Devils Hole pupfish has been in a nearly steady decline, where it was close to extinction at 35–68 fish in 2013.
Cyprinodon is a genus of pupfishes found in waters that range from fresh to hypersaline. The genus is primarily found in Mexico, the Caribbean Islands and southern United States, but C. variegatus occurs as far north as Massachusetts and along the entire Gulf of Mexico coastline, and C. dearborni and C. variegatus are found in northern South America. Many species have tiny ranges and are highly threatened, in some cases already extinct. Cyprinodon are small; the largest reaches 10 cm (3.9 in) in length and most other species only reach about half that size.
Robert Rush Miller was an important figure in American ichthyology and conservation from 1940 to the 1990s.
Potosi pupfish is a species of fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is endemic to Mexico, but is now extinct in the wild, only surviving in captivity.
The Leon Springs pupfish is a species of fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is endemic to Pecos County, Texas in the United States. It is a federally listed endangered species.
The Comanche Springs pupfish is a species of pupfish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is endemic to Texas, and is now found only in spring-fed pools near Balmorhea, a small town in West Texas.
The Cachorrito de la Trinidad, also known in English as the Charco Azul pupfish, was a small species of fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It was endemic to Ojo de Agua la Presa in southwestern Nuevo Leon state in Mexico, but became extinct in 1985 due to habitat loss. The same freshwater spring system was the home of three other pupfish: Cyprinodon ceciliae (extinct), Cyprinodon longidorsalis and Cyprinodon veronicae. Although these were from the same spring system, each was restricted to its own individual spring pool. The spring pond inhabited by the Charco Azul pupfish was also the home of a now-extinct, undescribed species of Cambarellus crayfish. The specific name inmemoriam means "in memory" and signifies the extinction of the species due to its native spring being dried out by groundwater extraction soon after the discovery of this fish in 1983.
The Pecos pupfish is a species of pupfish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is endemic to the Pecos River watershed in eastern New Mexico and western Texas in the United States.
The Catarina pupfish was a diminutive species of fish in the family Cyprinodontidae, first described in 1972. It was endemic to a spring in Nuevo León, Mexico. In an attempt of saving the rapidly declining species, some were brought into captivity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but it proved very difficult to maintain. In 1994 it became extinct in the wild. Gradually the captive populations also perished. The last male died in 2014 and the species became extinct.
The desert pupfish is a rare species of bony fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is a small fish, typically less than 7.62 cm (3 in) in length. Males are generally larger than females, and have bright-blue coloration, while females and juveniles are silvery or tan. A notable attribute of the desert pupfish is their ability to survive in environments of extreme salinity, pH, and temperature, and low oxygen content. The desert pupfish mates in a characteristic fashion, wherein compatible males and females will come in contact and collectively jerk in an s-shape. Each jerk typically produces a single egg that is fertilized by the male and deposited in his territory. Breeding behavior includes aggressive arena-breeding and more docile consort-pair breeding.
The Death Valley freshwater ecoregion is a freshwater ecoregion in the western United States. It consists of endorheic rivers, lakes, and springs in the drainages of the Owens, Amargosa, and Mojave Rivers, in central-eastern California and southwestern Nevada.
The Saratoga Springs pupfish is a subspecies of the Amargosa pupfish of the family Cyprinodontidae. The native population is endemic to Saratoga Springs, a small wetland in Death Valley National Park in the United States.
Cyprinodon nevadensis is a species of pupfish in the genus Cyprinodon. The species is also known as the Amargosa pupfish, but that name may also refer to one subspecies, Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosae. All six subspecies are or were endemic to very isolated locations in the Mojave Desert of California and Nevada.
Edwin Philip Pister was an American fishery biologist who worked for California Department of Fish and Game. He was a pioneer of desert fish conservation, and is credited with saving the Owens pupfish by transferring the entire remaining population into several buckets and transporting them to a safe location.
