Devil’s Hole Pupfish Live Exclusively in One Pool in Death Valley

Death Valley is home to the Devil's Hole pupfish, which is likely the metalest thing you can say about any fish. They are also critically endangered since they can only be found in that one pool in Death Valley, an area not generally noted for its rich aquatic biodiversity.

In Death Valley National Park, there is a pool inside a cave. It measures roughly 10 feet broad by 70 feet long, and its deepest point is 500 feet below the surface. But the shallows are where the fish like to stay. Only 35 of the little fish were still alive in 2013, a shockingly low number. But thanks to conservation efforts, by 2022 that number had significantly increased, with 475 of the fish living both in the cave and in captivity. Because it is difficult to breed them in captivity, conservation efforts are both important and challenging.

They are remarkably inbred as a result of having the shortest geographic range of any vertebrate for their home. Because they enjoy playing, which is rare for fish, and because they have been compared to puppies, pupfish got their name. The Devil's Hole species are the smallest and least aggressive of the various species that can be found in other pools in Death Valley.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cyprinodontiformes
Family: Cyprinodontidae
Genus: Cyprinodon
Species: C. diabolis