Science MCOM.

3/27/16.

Dakota Phillips.

http://www.sciencemag.org/sites/default/files/styles/inline_colwidth_
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itok=ag9Wba0R&timestamp=1453849293
Outline
This story is about a strange type of fish called pup fish, that live in the
nearly 90 degree Fahrenheit Waters in Devils Hole Death Valley. There are
very few pup fish in Devils Hole ranging from 35 to 548. This story caught
my eye because I never heard of fish living in extreme temperatures inn the
desert before. I wanted to make people aware of this fish because they are
slowly depleting and there are not that many left. Pup fish are only found in
the Devils Hole of Death Valley and they have now where else to go.

Pup fish in the Devils Hole

The Devils Hole of Death Valley holds an extreme rare species of fish.
Devils Hole pup fish are about the size of a pet gold fish and they are a
silver blue color. The hot temperatures of Death Valley are the only type of
habitat that what fish can live in. The Devils Hole Is a nearly content
temperature of 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit, that temperature of water would kill
most other fish and yet scientists have pondered on how they can survive in
such an extreme habitat.
According to science.org it is stated that, The fish spawn only on a
submerged shelf thats just a few meters on each side, the smallest natural
habitat of any vertebrate. Food is scarce in the dark cavern. Such a

challenging environment could put extra pressure on the pupfish to change

more quickly, although its unclear how all of the adaptations are beneficial.
(Hamers, Laurel. "Bizarre Desert-dwelling Fish May Have Evolved Just a Couple Hundred Years
Ago." Science.org. USDI National Park Service, 26 Jan. 2016. Web.) The Devils Hole pup fish

population is particularly small with their population being estimated to have

about 35 to 548 fish in the hot habitat of Devils Hole.
The habitat of Devils Hole is very isolated from other pieces of water
located in Death Valley so that the pup fish have adapted to the isolated
harsh environment. This makes the pup fish have their own unique traits that
no other fish have around other pieces of water in Death Valley. Occasionally
put fish in other types of fish mix when a flood comes and connects the
bodies of water. With limited resources, scarce food, and a hot environment,
the pup fish of Devils Hole have adapted to their harsh habitat with the very
small population size.
According to the website, Their survival has been heralded as an
evolutionary anomaly, as such populations usually become severely inbred
and die out. All we know about conservation genetics suggests that these
populations of very small size should not be able to survive in the long term,
Martin says. Martin is a biologist at the University of North Carolina. But the long
estimate for the Devils Hole pupfishs survival (and by extension, that of
their relatives throughout Death Valley) was based on when events like
floods could have brought them there, not their evolutionary history. Martin
and his colleagues turned to genetics instead. (Hamers, Laurel. "Bizarre Desertdwelling Fish May Have Evolved Just a Couple Hundred Years Ago." Science.org. USDI National
Park Service, 26 Jan. 2016. Web.)