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Expecting pupfish

Endangered Devil's Hole pupfish swim in an aquarium at the Ash Meadows Fish Conservation facility in Amargosa Valley, Nev. Aquaculturist Olin Feurbacher has been eager for them to lay eggs in captivity.

Endangered Devil’s Hole pupfish swim in an aquarium at the Ash Meadows Fish Conservation facility in Amargosa Valley, Nev. Aquaculturist Olin Feurbacher has been eager for them to lay eggs in captivity.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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For the first time, Devil’s Hole pupfish have laid eggs in captivity. Wildlife officials called it a biological breakthrough that could save the nearly extinct species.

Life in captivity

These captive fish were hatched from eggs collected at the species’ only known habitat - an isolated limestone depression in the Mojave Desert that became part of Death Valley National Park in 1952. Now, the fish in captivity have laid eggs for the first time.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Ancestral home

Devil’s Hole pupfish have survived in this remote rock tub in the Mojave Desert since the Ice Age, but the population has plunged to an all-time low of just 60 fish.   (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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