The world’s rarest fish population plummeted from 212 to 20 in a matter of months after earthquakes around the globe wreaked havoc on their unique Nevada habitat.
Tucked away in Nye County’s Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is a water-filled cave called Devil’s Hole – the only home to the critically endangered Devil’s Hole pupfish.
Devil’s Hole, which falls under the jurisdiction of Death Valley National Park, is about 12 feet wide and more than 500 feet deep.
The tiny silvery-blue pupfish rely on a shallow shelf at the cave’s mouth for their food and spawning, according to the National Park Service (NPS).
But the generally calm and sheltered home for the tiny fish has been prone to water surges caused by earthquakes that displace the algae and invertebrates that pupfish eat, KVVU reported.
Kevin Wilson, Death Valley National Park’s Supervisory Biologist and Devil’s Hole Program Manager, told the outlet that the back-to-back disruptions to the ecosystem have depleted the Devil’s Hole pupfish population by 90 percent.
Through 24/7 monitoring, national park officials are striving to protect and restore the suffering population.
Cameras placed inside the cave have captured the severe impact that earthquakes around the world have on the desert oasis.
Devil’s Hole is the only home to the critically endangered Devil’s Hole pupfish (pictured)
Devil’s Hole is located in Nye County’s Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (pictured)
In September 2022, a magnitude 7.6 quake struck New Mexico, sending four-foot waves from hundreds of miles away rushing through Devil’s Hole, KVVU reported.
In December of last year, an earthquake ‘created large waves that removed most of their food and resources,’ Wilson said.
‘Then a second earthquake the first week of February completely removed 99 percent of their food resources.’
Wilson explained that from the fall of 2024 to February, Devil’s Hole’s pupfish population dropped from 212 to just 20.
He and other park biologists were fearful once again when an 8.8 earthquake struck in Russia at the end of July.
‘I was like, oh no, not another earthquake… That earthquake in Russia created about a nine-inch wave in Devil’s Hole,’ Wilson told FOX5.
According to the NPS, ‘biologists are less concerned about the impacts of the July 29 quake on the pupfish’ than the ones that hit the cave in December and February.
‘The waves generated by this earthquake were smaller than those from the previous quakes, as the epicenter was farther away,’ the service added.
The tiny fish has been hit with water surges that displaced the algae and invertebrates they need for food
Devil’s Hole (pictured), which falls under the jurisdiction of Death Valley National Park, is about 12 feet wide and more than 500 feet deep
Kevin Wilson, Death Valley National Park’s Supervisory Biologist and Devil’s Hole Program Manager, said back-to-back disruptions to the ecosystem have depleted the Devil’s Hole pupfish population by 90 percent
The impact destroyed an algae mat in the cave. Photos shared by the NPS showed the cave shelf with most of the algae and invertebrates removed after the waves hit.
In the aftermath, Wilson told KVVU that biologists gave the fish food to help them survive.
‘The reason being is that there’s something in the ecosystem that’s not just quite right and we’re trying to figure that out… so we immediately started feeding extra food to the fish and we’re continuing that today,’ he said.
Wilson and the NPS said the most recent Devil’s Hole pupfish count indicates the population has grown to 38.
