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Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage O-Zone Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad June 17, 2006 By Donald Lind Tidings Correspondent In a deep crack in the earth just east of Death Valley lives a tiny, rare fish, the Devils Hole pupfish. The idea that fish could live in one of the harshest places on earth has long fascinated visitors to Death Valley National Monument, which includes Devils Hole. Now, despite its protected status as an endangered species, the two-inch fish is undergoing a mysterious population decline. Dr. Michael Parker, a Southern Oregon University biology professor who specializes in aquatic ecology, has been working on a recovery team monitoring the Devils Hole pupfish for the last six years. This is a “dire time for the fish,” Parker said in an interview. “The fish have been in decline for a decade, and we still don’t know the cause of the decline.” The last count of the silvery little creatures found just 38 individuals. Parker added, “It is important to preserve all species and not be the cause of their extinction. It is not just about this species, it is about all species.” Parker joins scientists from many other organizations across the nation dedicated to preserving the remaining Devils Hole pupfish, including the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the United States Geological Survey, the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Northern Arizona University. The Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) is the smallest of some 25 related species. It is thought to have been isolated in Devils Hole for 20,000 years. The fish were first discovered in 1878 in a crevice at the base of a hill in the Armagosa Desert, east of Death Valley, and classified in 1930. The area became known as Devils Hole, an opening to an vast cavern of 92-degree water. Exactly how the pupfish got to the hole, Parker said, remains a mystery. A bigger mystery, he said, is what is causing its numbers to drop so sharply now. Parker, who finished his degree in biology at SOU in 1981, said that scientists have been studying the pupfish and its natural habitat since it was listed as endangered in 1967. In the late 1960s, farming and development on land near the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge began reducing water levels in the opening of Devils Hole. This endangered the pupfish’s only area for spawning, a small limestone shelf at the edge of the opening. (Ash Meadows and Devils Hole officially became part of the Death Valley National Monument in January 1952, and the refuge was named in 1980.) After a series of court battles, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of protection of the pupfish and its surrounding habitat in 1976. The following year, it was clarified that there must be no land development that lowers the water in Devils Hole more than .82 meters from a certain reference point. Parker said there have traditionally been between 200 pupfish counted in the winter months and 500 in the summer and autumn months. The creatures generally have a 10-month lifespan. The goal of those working on the Devils Hole project is to find out why the population is falling and how it can be stopped. Parker said that the team’s primary concern is making sure the pupfish and other species native to the region can continue to exist in their natural habitat. “Since [Ash Meadows] is a National Wildlife Refuge, the goal is to restore it to its natural ecological state, so all the species can exist,” he said. The area that is home to the pupfish also hosts a number of other specialized species These include the Warm Springs pupfish, the Ash Meadows pupfish, the Ash Meadows milkvetch, the Ash Meadows blazing star and the Ash Meadows speckled dace. Scientists have become concerned that human involvement in the hole may have affected the conditions. But while they try to discover the true nature of the problem, there are three separate locations that the pupfish can be transferred to, their “insurance policies,” as Parker put it. One is at the Hoover Dam, which was established in 1972, and two other are near Devils Hole at the Ash Meadows NWR. They make up the Amargosa pupfish station. “Some fish have been taken into captivity to see if they can be bred [outside of their natural spawning grounds],” said Parker. There is some evidence to show that they can.” This suggests that if the pupfish must leave Devils Hole, the species can survive. Parker was introduced to the pupfish in November 1981. He was invited on a field trip to Death Valley with the Desert Fishes Council, where he saw the fish for the first time. Parker still does extensive work at Ash Meadows, and is currently studying the local Ash Meadows naucorid. He plans to take a few of his biology students with him this summer on a trip to Devils Hole. --> Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.