🐟 AquaticCare difficulty: AdvancedLegal complexity: High — restricted in many states
Devils Hole pupfish
Cyprinodon diabolis
The Devils Hole pupfish lives in a single geothermal limestone cavern in the Nevada desert, giving it one of the smallest ranges of any vertebrate. Its wild population sometimes numbers only dozens to a few hundred fish, making it one of the rarest fish in the world.
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Quick facts
| Size | Tiny fish ~2-3 cm, iridescent blue. |
| Lifespan | 1–3 years |
| Native region | Devils Hole, Nevada, United States (a single water-filled cavern) |
| Climate | 🏜️ Arid |
| Water type | 💧 Freshwater |
| Genus | Cyprinodon |
Habitat & enclosure
Found only in Devils Hole, a water-filled cave in Death Valley National Park, where it depends on a shallow sunlit rock shelf for feeding and spawning. Groundwater pumping that lowers the water level is an existential threat, the subject of landmark US legal protections. It is strictly protected; a federally managed refuge facility maintains a backup population. This profile is conservation/education only.
Diet
Feeds on algae and tiny invertebrates on the cavern's shallow shelf. Its entire food base depends on a fragile, sunlit ledge only meters across.
Behavior & temperament
Adapted to warm, low-oxygen water that would kill most fish, it is a marvel of evolution in extreme isolation. Its precarious existence has made it a symbol of the value, and fragility, of micro-endemic species and of desert groundwater.
Reviewed and signed off by: KinStation Editorial — conservation profile (pending DVM/biologist review)