Critically Endangered
This is such a fascinating little fish (not quite an inch long). They essentially live in a random very deep hole in Death Valley. The water stays at 91F-93F. They know the hole is more than 500 feet deep but do not know how deep it goes. It is only 8 feet 2 inches by 11 feet 6 inches across. The fish don't live in the deepest part, they stay in the top 80 feet. The fish mostly eat algae. There are "diving beetles" that eat the eggs and larvae of the pupfish. It is hard to rid the water of the beetles because they are only the size of a poppy seed. There is an attempt to create a captive breeding program, but from what I have found it does not seem to be working well. The number of fish usually ranges from 200-500, but has sunk as low as 35 now.
I painted this because of my mom who is still with us. Their house is still standing, but the road is closed and the power is not on yet. My mom loves the colour blue. When I was looking through a bunch of critically endangered animals she spotted these and loved them. I'm getting spoiled with my parents here. My mom is someone who swears she likes to do dishes, and since it isn't nice to call your mom a liar I feel I have to let her. I am too scatterbrained to be a fantastically neat person. I can almost forget what I'm doing in the middle of doing it. When it is safe for my parents to go home, I'm contemplating sabotaging their cars so they have to stay.