“Devils Hole is already at the edge of what fish can handle on a consistent basis,” says Dr. Jennifer Gumm, a fish biologist and facility manager at Ash Meadows Fish Conservation Facility. Gumm manages a satellite facility where a replica Devils Hole sustains a refuge population of the pupfish for further research.
Still, overall, the small population has extremely low genetic diversity. Researchers in Martin’s Berkeley fish lab recently sequenced the genome of Devils Hole pupfish and found some unique mutations, including one affecting the tail of the sperm. This might make it unable to swim and thus fertilize eggs.
Desert fish will have to compete for scarcer resources and adapt to even bleaker conditions. It’s not just heat — climate change also fuels droughts and wildfires. When the flow in springs drops, so does nutrient availability for endemic fish. Streams that dry up can lead to fragmentation , stranding fish. And when ash and soot fall into, or become runoff in streams and lakes, fish can choke.
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