Off-Shore Earthquake Rocks Devils Hole, Endangered Death Valley Pupfish
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake off Northern California today rattled more than nerves—it sent waves crashing through Devils Hole, a collapsed cave in Death Valley National Park that serves as the exclusive habitat for the critically endangered Devils Hole Pupfish, according to a park service press release.
The tremor, which struck off the coast at 10:44 a.m., set off a phenomenon known as a seiche—think earthquake-induced bathtub sloshing—500 miles away in the desert. Within two minutes, the normally placid waters of Devils Hole churned with two-foot waves, tossing organic debris into its 500-foot depths and disrupting the shallow spawning shelf where the tiny, electric-blue fish call home.
“In the short term, this is bad for the pupfish,” said Dr. Kevin Wilson, a biologist with the National Park Service. “A lot of pupfish food just sank deeper into the cave, most likely too deep for the fish to get to it. There were likely pupfish eggs on the shelf that were destroyed.”
But if history is any guide, this might just be nature’s way of tidying up. Pupfish have survived countless shake-ups in their evolutionary journey, including seiches in 2018, 2019, and 2022. The most recent census counted just 212 pupfish in September, but similar past disturbances spurred increased spawning activity—a hopeful note in an otherwise precarious situation.
Dr. Wilson likened the seismic slosh to hitting the “refresh” button. “It cleaned off any decaying organic matter that could otherwise cause pockets of low oxygen,” he explained.
Still, biologists aren’t leaving it to chance. A coalition of experts from the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Nevada Department of Wildlife is crafting a plan to mitigate the quake’s impacts, likely including ramped-up supplemental feeding to sustain the population.
The Devils Hole Pupfish is a resilient species, but it faces a stacked deck: its unique habitat is threatened by groundwater pumping and climate change. “They’ve survived a lot, but we’re doing everything we can to give them a fighting chance,” Dr. Wilson said.
