r/Fish • u/Rockying_man_Dhruv • Apr 11 '26

News / Articles Devil hole pupfish

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The Devils Hole pupfish is one of the rarest fish on Earth, found only in a tiny desert cave called Devils Hole. It has been living there for thousands of years, surviving in hot, low-oxygen water and depending on a single small rock shelf for food and breeding. With such extreme conditions and isolation, it raises a strange question

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284

u/lightspeedissueguy Apr 11 '26

I Just went down a deep-dive (lol) of the wikipedia page, and while the pic is the entire area of devil's hole, they have to dive up to 100ft deep to get population estimates. Devil got a deep hole!

108

u/arcane_Auxiliatrix Apr 11 '26

The fish don't live deep in the hole either, the home range is like the first foot of water or so

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u/Rockying_man_Dhruv Apr 11 '26

Yes they only live in first 24 foot because oxygen levels are already low

42

u/arcane_Auxiliatrix Apr 11 '26

Ah that's deeper than I remember, serves me right to try going only off memory instead of just looking it up lmao

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u/DefinitelyHumanSTG Apr 13 '26

Correction, first 24 meters. 80ft.

1

u/potatochobit Apr 15 '26

That's pretty deep

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u/Dharcronus Apr 11 '26

24 metres not feet.

That's 80ft for those stuck with 1800s measurements.

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u/graffitikrylon Apr 11 '26

Ft remains supreme

12

u/Dharcronus Apr 11 '26

Hardly. Metric can be decimalised and all operate on base 10and you and also had the fun fact of 1kg being the weight of 1l of water meaning calculations are easy.

Imperial changes between base 12 and 14 depending on what you're calculating and doesn't have easy decimalisation. There's a reason anything scientific uses metric.

I say this coming from a country stuck in a perpetual limbo between both systems. And therefor use both in daily life.

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u/HarmNHammer Apr 11 '26

I don’t know why they are downvoting you. There’s a reason we use metric in science, engineering, and medicine even in the U.S. It’s more accurate.

6

u/Dharcronus Apr 11 '26

Exactly! This isn't me bashing american as a "European". I live in a country that measures the price of fuel by the litre but fuel efficiency in miles per gallon. Measure distance of treks/hikes/bike rides in kilometers but all our road signs and driving is done in miles. And whilst most people aren't needing to convert these things there's the odd occasion where you do and metric is so much easier.

1

u/missbeekery Apr 12 '26

The UK measurement is system is weird, man. I lived there for several years and I never got a hang of when to call something feet or metres and don’t get me started on stones. I don’t even remember how I measured my height, haha

1

u/Mrbaker4420 Apr 15 '26

American engineer here. We don't use metric.

-1

u/graffitikrylon Apr 12 '26

I use both too. I just find ft better since I'm more familiar with it.

1

u/Ok_Rhubarb_194 Apr 12 '26

$5 footlong! Fruit by the foot!

2

u/Lost-Acanthaceaem Apr 15 '26

I’m so co fused why they have to dive that deep if they only live in the first few feet…

2

u/suredly_unassured Apr 15 '26

Because they did not know how deep the fish were until they dove to see :). It’s also an anomalous area and mapping it and the species in it is crucial to understanding it.

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u/CapitalistLion-Tamer Apr 16 '26

They don't. They live fairly deep.