Tanisha+Calliste-+Desert+Pupfish

Desert Pupfish
About 4 to 500 years ago, they were located in the Colorado River but after the Colorado River flooded the Salton Sea, The Desert pupfish colonized in the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea was made up of pools, marshes and drains which supported all sized fish.



__Habitat__
The Desert Pupfish Is located mainly located in the marshes, streams and pools of Southern Arizona and California. The desert pupfish can upstain harsh tempertures up to 104 degrees. Before they ended up in Dos palmas, they were washed into the Salton Sea from the Colorado River.

__[[image:calliste_read_8.jpg caption="Average Size of Desert Pupfish Downloaded 10/22/09)"]] Niche__
//**__Diet:__**// The Desert Pupfish eats the blue, green and brown alge off of the bottom of the water (marsh, stream, pools, rivers ect....) and small aquatic insects. The Desert Pupfish can get up to 4 inches in height and about an inch in width. The desert pupfish’s climate requirement would need to be hot since this pupfish lives in such hot environments ;such as the desert, the desert pupfish needs to live in heated areas.The tempertures can reach as high as 113 degrees and have salt concentrations up to six times greater than the ocean, up to a 20 percent of salinity. When the winter comes around, the water becomes cold the Desert Pupfish becomes dormant and burrows into the muddy bottom of the water. Seeing as California and Arizona are hot almost every day of the year, the desert pupfish is able to survive thus far. As a way to rest, the desert pupfish tends to barrie its self under the sand or dirt and when it awakens, it swims out of the barrier and swims around for food.
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The desert pupfish eats the blue, green and brown algae off of the bottom of the water (marsh, stream, pools, and rivers), small aquatic insects and crustaceans and plants. From what I found in my research, the only found preditor to the desert pupfish was the Longjaw Mudsucker. Remains of desert pupfish were in gastrointestinal contents of a Longjaw Mudsucker. "Pupfish have no predators. There was no evidence of an invasion by a nonnative species." says Chuck Squatriglia,San Frinsisco Chronicle Staff Writer During breeding season, the male desert pupfish will change to their luminescent blue breeding color and aggressively defend their territories. The federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 was enacted to protect animal and plant species from extinction by preserving the ecosystems in which they survive and by providing programs for their conservation. An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters. There are only about 42 Desert pupfish left in the world. Currently thery're studies being done to figure out how the species can be saved from endangerment. I could not find any organizations that are trying to promote the preservation of the desert pupfish.

[] Size of fish picture: [] [] First desert pupfish Picture: [] Picture of Dos Palmas: []
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