Death Valley pupfish

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Speciesbox The Death Valley pupfish (Cyprinodon salinus), 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.

Description

The spring-fed pools of upper Salt Creek are the year-round habitat of pupfish

The Death Valley Pupfish is a small, silvery colored fish with 6–9 vertical dark bands on its sides. It has an average length of Template:Cvt, with a recorded maximum of Template:Cvt.<ref>Template:FishBase</ref>

The males, often appearing in larger sizes compared to females, turn bright blue during mating season, April through October. The females, along with premature pupfish, tend to have tanned backs with iridescent, silvery sides. Both males and females have plump bodies with rounded fins, a squashed head and an upturned mouth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The pupfish can withstand harsh conditions that would kill other fish: water that is 4 times more saline than the ocean, hot water up to Template:Cvt, and cold water down to Template:Cvt.<ref name=blm>Template:Cite web</ref>

Distribution and habitat

A school of Death Valley pupfish, seen in Salt Creek in 2019

This species is known from only two locations in Death Valley: Salt Creek (subspecies salinus) at about Template:Cvt below sea level, and Cottonball Marsh (subspecies milleri), at about Template:Cvt below sea level.<ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021" /> They are thought to be the remainders of a large ecosystem of fish species that lived in Lake Manly, which dried up at the end of the last ice age leaving the present-day Death Valley.<ref name=iceage>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Salt Creek subspecies is also found at River Springs and Soda Lake, in Death Valley National Park.<ref name=blm/>

Conservation

The Death Valley pupfish has been classified as endangered by the IUCN because of its extremely restricted distribution (if the two extant locations were treated as a single unit, it would be considered critically endangered). Numbers of individuals at the locations are highly seasonally variable, and fluctuate with water level and flow volume. While the entire range of the species is located in a protected area, it may be under threat from accidental introduction of non-native species, local catastrophic events, and excessive pumping of the aquifer that feeds the habitat.<ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021" />

See also

• Tecopa pupfish, Cyprinodon nevadensis calidae (extinct)
• Saratoga Springs pupfish, Cyprinodon nevadensis nevadensis, from Saratoga Springs at the south end of Death Valley
• Amargosa pupfish, Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosa, from the Amargosa River northwest of Saratoga Springs
• Devils Hole pupfish, Cyprinodon diabolis, critically endangered and found in Devils Hole in western Nevada
• Shoshone pupfish, Cyprinodon nevadensis shoshone
• Desert pupfish, Cyprinodon macularius
• Owens pupfish, Cyprinodon radiosus

Further reading

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External links

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