11/15 Fish Conservation Facility: Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada

This is the Fish Conservation Facility located at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada. (Minus my finger!) It was opened in 2013 and its mission is to raise the critically endangered Devil's Hole Pupfish, so that if for some reason, the Devil's Hole Pupfish dies out, it could be replaced by the fish grown in this facility.

We were given a tour of the Facility on November 15, 2019. This male tarantula was an exciting visitor that appeared when we arrived at the facility.

My sister, Bonnie, and her partner, Carl, were visiting me so they got to join us on the tour. In this photo you see Carl walking into the facility. Behind him is a tray of sanitizer that we all had to walk in before entering the facility. Then we all had to sanitize our hands in order to keep from introducing germs into the facility.

Inside the facility is a room with aquariums. The aquariums house juvenile pupfish. Each pupfish has one of its fins clipped so scientists can study its DNA. (The clippings are sent to scientists in other places.) 

This large tank is where breeding pupfish are placed. It has white carpets on the bottom where the fish lay their eggs.

Jenny, the woman in the brown shirt is in charge of the Fish Facility. Becky, in the blue shirt, is another volunteer. She's looking into the microscope at a live pupfish egg. After the eggs are laid, they take from 7 - 10 days to hatch.

The other room in the Fish Facility houses microscopes, pumps and other equipment.

In a building adjacent to the aquarium and equipment building is an artificial reconstruction of Devil's Hole where the adult pupfish are placed. Some fish lay eggs here to keep the cycle going.