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German Brown trout, Rainbow trout, Largemouth Bass, and Crayfish brought something completely new into the habitat of the pupfish, predators. Until that time pupfish had no natural enemies, they were the kings of the Owens River. Being aggressive and curious by nature, the pupfish were taken completely by surprise when carnivorous fish were introduced into the river, and their populations were decimated by the hungry fish fifty times their size. The poor pupfish didn't stand a chance when they fought for territory which had been their very own for centuries.
In 1963 biologists found a remnant population of Owens Pupfish in a marsh just north of Bishop called Fish Slough. At that time they began to transplant the fish to other suitable nearby locations in an effort to maintain the population. Eventually, however, the transplanted populations, for a number of reasons, were unable to survive, and only one room sized pond at the headwaters of Fish Slough was left which contained the entire population of Owens pupfish in the world. On a hot summer day in August of 1969, Phil Pister, a Fish and Game Biologist, noticed that this pond was drying up and the pupfish were dying. That day he took his two buckets filled them with the pupfish and single-handedly transplanted the entire species to another suitable location in Fish Slough. Had he slipped or spilled the buckets, there would be no pupfish today.
In 1973, when the Endangered Species act was passed the pupfish was one of the first species to be put on the list. Today it remains on the Federal Endangered species list and is also listed by the State of California. Populations in Fish Slough remain constant, although the species is still threatened by predation and competition with other species for food. Although the Owens pupfish is a small and seemingly worthless fish, it's value as an integral thread in the web of life on the earth must be respected and understood.
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