La Cienega Project
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

There is so much to learn about Quitobaquito Pupfish (Cyprinodon eremus)!
So, here is a start for some ecology background on these little fishes.

Population studies:
Every year we try and estimate how many of the endangered C. eremus are surviving in the Quitobaquito spring system. So, each year we go out and catch as many fish as we can and count them. This year the annual fish count took place on September 9, 2004. Click on the links below to learn more about the census and also about historic population data.

Annual census

historic data

There is much to know about population in ecology. Click here to read more about how ecologists use population data to learn about species.

Food webs:
Stay tuned as students help build a food web for the pupfish including the kinds and numbers of invertibrates we can find in Quitobaquito

Habitat:
As we learn more about what kinds of things C. eremus needs to survive, we can start describing their habitat. Based on this, we can make recommendations to ORPI staff about the kind of habitat to include in La Cienega.