On April 30, 2016, on a highway in the desert of Nedahua, three men drank wine and drove along the road, all the way through the vast sand, making people feel that no matter how fast they could not escape the desolation in front of them. It didn't take long for a mountain to appear in front of them, and the three of them immediately stopped down to check it out.
When they came to the cave, they found that the entire cave was surrounded by a steel fence, but for them it was not a thing, one of them immediately pulled out a gun and pointed a few shots at the lock, and the gate was successfully opened. The drunkards are also curious that such a desolate place is still protected, is there a treasure in it?
With curiosity, striding into the cave, but turning around and finding nothing, just a waterhole, disappointed 3 people simply sat on the shore to continue drinking, with the increase of alcohol stimulation, coupled with the heat of the weather, the three people gradually felt hot and abnormal, looking at a pool of clear water in front of them, everyone jumped in and swam without saying a word.
Not to mention that the water in the cave is really cool, under the stimulation of cold water, the three people feel that the spirit is greatly invigorated, so it is another meal to drink, and even the amount of alcohol is capped, after such a toss, the stomach can not stand it, and after a while they all began to vomit madly, and then left the garbage on the ground to grow away.
But what the 3 people don't know is that this place is the key protected area of Death Valley National Park, the staff found this situation when viewing the surveillance video, and immediately went to the scene to check, but the 3 people are long gone, looking at the ruined cave and waterhole, the Death Valley National Park Administration was extremely shocked and angry, and then offered a reward of $5,000 to reward the person who provided the clue, after half a month of waiting, finally when the bonus was raised to $15,000, the 3 drunks were arrested.
After a court trial, the three violated the Endangered Species Act and were charged with killing endangered species, destroying habitats, conspiracy to commit crimes, invading and destroying property, and were eventually fined $50,000 and sentenced to one year in prison. So the question is, why is it such a big sin to take a bath in a waterhole and spit something out? It is reasonable to say that the United States is a country that advocates freedom, so does this violate their so-called principles?
It turns out that the place where these 3 people are ruined is indeed a bit hot, this hole is called the Devil's Cave, although the waterhole inside is less than 10 square meters, but it is the only remaining species in the world, the devil mackerel, and it has been isolated from the world for 60,000 years, at least there are only 38 left, when these 3 people set foot, it is their breeding period, which seriously affects normal reproduction, and even almost causes the extinction of the species!
What kind of fish is the magic mackerel? How did they come about? Why have you been trapped in the desert for tens of thousands of years? For a long time, this isolated cave did not attract people's attention, until the 1930s, the American ichthyologist Joseph Welsh found a new type of fish here, although it was an accident, but it caused a sensation in the entire biological community, and later confirmed that this medaka with a body length of only 2.7 to 3 cm in the world, only lived in the devil's cave, that is to say, the world is unique, the degree of preciousness can be imagined, and was later named the medaka.
The magic fish is one of the rayfin fish in the suborder Carptooth medaka, although very small, but does not affect their level of fame, 60,000 years, the magic medaka overcame the cold ice age, endured the hot desert climate, and tenaciously survived the shrinking habitat range, it is indeed a miracle!
Devil's Cave is about 100 kilometers away from Las Vegas, located in the depths of the Mojave Desert, but as early as the Ice Age here was originally a vast ocean, after the change of geological movement, after the formation of a desert, due to the special location of the Devil's Cave, only left a waterhole, the original life in the ocean of the devil medaka is also trapped here, living alone in the water 18 meters below the desert ground. Because there is no water source, it can only rely on a small amount of rainfall to maintain the water level every year, but the water temperature can be maintained at 33 ° C all year round, but the oxygen content is extremely low, and due to the large evaporation, the salt content is four times that of ordinary seawater.
Although inaccessible, but in order to protect them, as early as 1952 U.S. President Truman signed a decree to list the Devil's Cave in Death Valley National Park, in 1962 scientists began to test the water level in the cave for a long time, conservation measures have been done but the effect is basically no, and by 1967 the devil's fish was still listed as an endangered species.
During the conservation period, the population peaked at just over 500, and at its lowest it dropped to 38, almost to the point of extinction, so the IUCN designated it a "critically endangered" species. By the spring of 2019, the number of medaka had gradually recovered from the original 38 to 136, which was no different from the endangerment without a qualitative change in the number, and it was such a small achievement that cost the U.S. government tens of millions of dollars.
Since the medaka is so tenacious and has safely survived 60,000 years, why is there less and less now? The main reason is caused by humans, originally the medaka has slowly adapted to the natural environment, but the sudden change caught it off guard.
In 1965, several children broke into the Devil's Cave to play, but two of them never returned, the last two divers went into the water to look for it, and when they reached a depth of 147 meters, they never came up, and their companions could not find a trace when they reached the limit depth, and almost pumped out the pool in order to rescue them, but the proposal was eventually rejected.
In 1967, dozens of kilometers away from the farmland pumped a large amount of groundwater for irrigation, resulting in a sharp decline in the water level of devil's cave, and most importantly, the spawning site of the devil's fish was also exposed to the water, until 1976, the US Supreme Court banned the use of groundwater from the habitat of the "medaka", which slightly improved their living environment, but the population still did not increase.
In addition, the natural environment is also constantly testing this blue elves, on July 5, 2019, there was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake near Trona, California, Death Valley National Park was seriously affected, the original lifeless waterhole immediately overturned the river, which is undoubtedly a disaster for the medaka, fortunately, the hole did not collapse, but the negative impact is certainly there.
There is also the lack of food has been affected by the expansion of the population of the devil medaka, the devil's cave originally had a low water level, coupled with other factors, the water level is lower, resulting in the sun for a long time can not shine in the water, algae plants are also reduced, no food, the devil medaka is struggling.
And biologists have found that they will adapt to different environmental changes, such as when the oxygen content in the water is high, it will emit a more colorful body color, the body shape will also change according to the richness of food, if it is polycultured with other fish species, it will also cross with each other to form new varieties, so it brings a lot of challenges to the purity of the genetic population, and the two are difficult, so that the place that is really suitable for its survival can only be the devil's hole in the original state.