LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Earthquakes around the world have rattled the Nevada home of the world’s rarest fish deep in a hole in Nye County. As a result, their numbers have plummeted.
Now there is an effort to make sure the highly endangered Devil’s Hole does not go extinct.
Tuesday, FOX5 spoke with the Supervisory Biologist and Devil’s Hole Program Manager for Death Valley National Park in charge of ensuring the survival of the pupfish.
Kevin Wilson says after a series of powerful quakes around the globe stressed their underwater world leading to a sharp decline in their numbers, 90% of the population, but they are now on the rebound.
Devil’s Hole is a water-filled cave of an unknown depth within the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, a true oasis in the Nevada Desert. Its natural spring feed pools are home to several species of pupfish. Devil’s Hole is also part of Death Valley National Park to offer the fish greater protection. Their lives are monitored 24/7 by live camera from an office and lab in Pahrump.
Cameras have recorded a series of recent quakes around the world rattling the rare fish. A surge of water was recorded in Devil’s Hole in September of 2022 after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in New Mexico caused the four-foot waves hundreds of miles away.
“There was an earthquake December of last year that created large waves that removed most of their food and resources and then a second earthquake the first week of February completely removed 99% of their food resources,” Wilson revealed.
Their population quickly died off from 212 fish in fall 2024 to just 20 fish counted during an emergency dive check at the end of February. When Wilson heard about a massive 8.8 quake in Russia last month, he rushed to his office to check the live camera.
“I was like, oh no, not another earthquake… That earthquake in Russia created about a nine-inch wave in Devil’s Hole,” Wilson recounted.
An image from that camera taken on July 29th shows an algae mat thriving, the next day much of it is gone. As their ecosystem is stressed, biologists are offering the little fish a little boost, fish food, hoping to ensure the survival of the species.
“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,” Wilson explained.
An emergency dive in July counted 38 fish so the population is rebounding from the low of just 20 earlier this year.
There’s typically a dive of Devil’s Hole every spring and fall to count the fish. Fall counts usually are much higher as the fish reproduce over the summer so the park service is optimistic pupfish numbers will be up at their next count at the end of September.
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