Rare fish species live in the 'devil's cave', the number of which can be counted on the fingers of one hand

Rare fish species live in the 'devil's cave', the number of which can be counted on the fingers of one hand Picture 1

The devil's hole nymph is a small Cyprinid fish of the order Cyprodontidae, found in the Mojave Desert in Death Valley, Nevada. They live in "Devil's Cave", a limestone water cave. Devil's hole nymphs are estimated to have fewer numbers than pandas.

This fish has lived since the Ice Age and was only discovered in 1930.

With only 38 left, this fish species is at risk of extinction, especially after three tourists damaged their habitat in April 2016.

Although artificial reproduction has been attempted, the effort has so far been unsuccessful.

Devil's Cave is a stable temperature lake with a depth of more than 130m, where devil's hole pupa lives at a depth of 24m.

Scientists believe that this fish has been living in holes since about 60,000 years ago. This makes their conservation extremely important.

To preserve the devil's hole pupfish, millions of dollars have been spent, and in the end, scientists' efforts have yielded positive results.

By April 2022, the number of devil hole fish pupae at Devil's Cave has increased to 175 fish.

Micah Soto

Update 01 April 2024