Potosi pupfish facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cyprinodon alvarezi |
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The Potosi pupfish (Cyprinodon alvarezi) is a small type of fish from the pupfish family. It is special because it used to live only in one place in Mexico. This is called being endemic.
Sadly, the Potosi pupfish is now extinct in the wild. This means it no longer lives freely in nature. It only survives in special aquariums where people care for it.
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Where the Potosi Pupfish Lived
The Potosi pupfish was only found in one specific spring in Mexico. This spring was called Ojo de Potosi. It was located near a small town named El Potosi. This town is in the southwestern part of the Nuevo Leon state.
Today, you won't find these fish swimming in that spring anymore. They are only alive in places like zoos and aquariums. Scientists hope to one day bring them back to their natural home.
Why the Potosi Pupfish Disappeared
The Potosi pupfish lived in a clear, spring-fed pool. This pool was part of a special area called an endorheic basin. This means water flows into it but doesn't flow out to the ocean. The pool was near a mountain called Cerro Potosi.
The pool was quite deep, about 2.5 meters (8 feet). It also covered a large area, about 10,000 square meters (107,639 square feet). Many plants grew in the water, like Ceratophyllum and Najas. There were also tall plants like Typha and Scirpus around the edges.
Changes to Their Home
People built a large dam to make the pool even bigger. Water also flowed out from the spring in small streams. These streams ran for about 1 to 1.5 kilometers (0.6 to 0.9 miles) downstream.
The Potosi pupfish shared its home with other amazing creatures. These included the Catarina pupfish and a type of crayfish called Cambarellus alvarezi. Sadly, both of these other species are now completely extinct.
New Fish in the Pool
Other fish were also brought into the pupfish's home. Goldfish were introduced, possibly before 1961. Largemouth bass also became common in the deeper parts of the pond. These bass are much bigger fish, some growing up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) long.
The presence of these new, larger fish was a problem. The number of Potosi pupfish started to drop very quickly.
Water Levels Dropped
From 1968 to 1983, the water level in the pool stayed mostly the same. But by 1984, the water level had dropped a lot. It went down 1.5 meters (5 feet). This meant the pond lost 90% of its surface area.
On October 26, 1985, the water dropped even more. By the next summer, there was no water left in the main pool at all. The pupfish could only survive in the small side springs.
In the end, the Potosi pupfish became extinct in the wild. This happened because of new species brought into their home and big changes to their habitat. Luckily, some Potosi pupfish are kept in aquariums. These fish could help bring the species back to the wild one day.
What the Potosi Pupfish Looks Like
The Potosi pupfish is a small fish. Adult fish are usually about 5 to 6 centimeters (2 to 2.4 inches) long.
Male pupfish look very colorful when they are ready to mate. Their fins can be white, milky, or bluish-white. They have a wide black bar at the end of their tail fin. The edges of their top and bottom fins are also milky white. Their side fins are grey-black.
Both male and female pupfish have a long lower jaw that sticks out. Their pelvic fins, which are on their belly, are quite small. Young females and young males often have a dark spot on their dorsal (top) fin.
How the Potosi Pupfish Got Its Name
The scientific name for the Potosi pupfish is Cyprinodon alvarezi. This name honors a person named Jose Alvarez del Villar. He was a scientist who studied fish.
Jose Alvarez del Villar was the first person to collect this type of pupfish in 1952. He had planned to describe the species himself. But he gave the fish to another scientist, Robert Rush Miller. Miller then took on the job of officially describing the species in 1976.
