View source for Death Valley pupfish

{{short description|Small endangered fish native to Death Valley, California}}
{{For|the endangered pupfish in Devils Hole|Devils Hole pupfish}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Death Valley pupfish
| image = Salt Creek pupfish.jpg
| image_caption = Male (right) and female (left)
| status = EN
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=NatureServe |date=2013 |title=''Cyprinodon salinus'' |volume=2013 |article-number=e.T62211A15362833 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T62211A15362833.en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref>
|status2=G1
|status2_system=TNC
|status2_ref=<ref>{{cite web|url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103079/Cyprinodon_salinus|title=''Cyprinodon salinus''|website=NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer|author=NatureServe|publisher=NatureServe|date=7 April 2023|access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref>
| taxon = Cyprinodon salinus
| authority = [[Robert Rush Miller|R. R. Miller]], 1943
| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
| subdivision = *''C. s. salinus''
*''C. s. milleri''
|range_map = Death Valley Pupfish (Cyprinodon salinus), Range Map.svg
|range_map_caption = [[IUCN]] range map for ''Cyprinodon salinus'', Version 2022-2
}}
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 [[Endemism|endemic]] to two small, isolated locations and currently classified as [[endangered species|endangered]].

== Description ==
[[File:Salt Creek pools.jpg|thumb|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 {{cvt|3.7|cm|in}}, with a recorded maximum of {{cvt|7.8|cm|in}}.<ref>{{FishBase |genus =Cyprinodon| species =salinus |year = 2015 |month = 12}}</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>{{cite web |title=Natural History |url=https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/fish/desert_pupfish/natural_history.html |website=Center for Biological Diversity}}</ref> The pupfish can withstand harsh conditions that would kill other fish: water that is 4 times [[Hypersaline lake|more saline than the ocean]], hot water up to {{cvt|116|F|C}}, and cold water down to {{cvt|32|F|C}}.<ref name=blm>{{cite web |url=http://www.blm.gov/ca/forms/wildlife/details.php?metode=serial_number&search=2925&detaillabelc=Salt%20Creek%20Pupfish&detaillabels=Cyprinodon%20salinus |title=Salt Creek pupfish |publisher=U.S. Bureau of Land Management |access-date=2016-05-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611013556/http://www.blm.gov/ca/forms/wildlife/details.php?metode=serial_number&search=2925&detaillabelc=Salt%20Creek%20Pupfish&detaillabels=Cyprinodon%20salinus |archive-date=2016-06-11 }}</ref>

==Distribution and habitat==
[[File:Pupfish school.jpg|thumb|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 {{cvt|49|m|ft}} below sea level, and Cottonball Marsh (subspecies ''milleri''), at about {{cvt|80|m|ft}} 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>{{cite web | author=US Geological Survey | title=Shoreline Butte: Ice age Death Valley | url=http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/deva/ftsho1.html | work=Death Valley Geology Field Trip Shoreline Butte | publisher=Department of the Interior | date=30 June 2000 | access-date=2009-09-10 | archive-date=2015-04-30 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430063530/http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/deva/ftsho1.html }}</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 species|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 (Death Valley)|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''

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal |author=Duvernell, D. D. |author2=Turner, B. J. |year=1999 |title=Variation and divergence of Death Valley pupfish populations at retrotransposon-defined loci |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=363–371 |url=http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/3/363.full.pdf |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a026117|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |author=Lema, S. C. |year=2008 |title=The phenotypic plasticity of Death Valley's pupfish: desert fish are revealing how the environment alters development to modify body shape and behavior |journal=American Scientist |volume=96 |number=1 |page=28 |doi=10.1511/2008.69.3668 |url=http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1354&context=bio_fac|url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite journal |author=Jahren, A. H. |author2=Sanford, K. L. |year=2002 |title=Ground-water is the ultimate source of the Salt Creek pupfish habitat, Death Valley, U.S.A |journal=Journal of Arid Environments |volume=51 |number=3 |pages=401–411 |doi=10.1006/jare.2001.0950 |url=http://jahrenlab.com/storage/JahrenSanford2002.pdf|bibcode=2002JArEn..51..401J }}

== External links ==
*{{commons and category-inline}}
* {{ITIS |id=165642 |taxon=Cyprinodon salinus |accessdate=18 January 2014}}

{{Death Valley}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q5247243}}

[[Category:Cyprinodon]]
[[Category:Death Valley]]
[[Category:Endemic fauna of California]]
[[Category:Endemic fish of the United States]]
[[Category:Fauna of the Mojave Desert]]
[[Category:Fish of the Western United States]]
[[Category:Freshwater fish of the United States]]
[[Category:Natural history of Inyo County, California]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Robert Rush Miller]]
[[Category:Fish described in 1943]]
[[Category:Endangered fish]]
[[Category:Endangered fauna of California]]