At a Glance

Only 136 of the inch-long fish remain in Devils Hole in the Death Valley National Park.The Ridgecrest earthquake set off 10-foot waves in Devils Hole.The waves cleared away algae and dead leaves that sucked oxygen out of the water.

The near Ridgecrest, California, in early July may have been a boon for the tiny Devils Hole pupfish, one of the rarest fish on Earth.

About 70 miles from the quake's epicenter, Devils Hole in the Death Valley National Park is home to 136 of the inch-long iridescent blue fish. In fact, a limestone shelf in shallow water at the cavern's entrance and the upper 80 feet of the 92-degree geothermal pool is the only place Devils Hole pupfish live.

The Ridgecrest quake set off 10-foot waves in the 10-foot-wide and 25-foot-long pool. Video showed the pupfish diving deeper into the pool as the waves smashed against the rocks.

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“,” Jennifer Gumm, a biologist and manager for the Ash Meadows Fish Conservation Facility of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told the Los Angeles Times. “The earthquake causes what’s called a seismic seiche, and it’s basically a sloshing of the water back and forth.”

The Devils Hole pupfish is thought to have been isolated from other pupfish species about 1,000 years ago.

(U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

It's not the first time far-away earthquakes have affected Devils Hole. Quakes in Alaska, Japan, Indonesia and China have, according to a National Parks blog post.

Kevin Wilson, an aquatic ecologist and manager of the Devils Hole research program at Death Valley National Park, said earthquakes are "kind of a two-edged sword."

"There is a very positive aspect of earthquakes occurring in Devils Hole, and then there is ," Wilson said in an interview with Nevada Public Radio.

Immature pupfish and some eggs were probably killed in the sloshing, he said. At the same time, the waves washed away algae and dead leaves that can pull oxygen from the water.

Another positive impact, Gumm said, is that the adult fish started spawning when they returned to their shelf in the shallow water. She told the Los Angeles Times that may be because the shock of the earthquake caused a hormone release in the fish.

Devils Hole is in Death Valley National Park next to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nye County, Nevada.

(U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Scientists estimate the Devils Hole pupfish has lived in the area for 10,000 years. It became isolated from other pupfish species about 1,000 years ago.

It was first listed as an endangered species in 1967. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1976 curtailed groundwater pumping that lowered water levels at Devils Hole.

After reaching counts of 200 to 250 in the 1990s, the numbers plunged at the end of that decade. Fewer than 40 fish were , according to the National Parks Traveler.

A survey in September 2018 counted 187 fish. The number fell to 136 in the March count.