Bob Williams, a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service field supervisor, talks Thursday about recovery efforts for the Devil's Hole pupfish, pictured below, at the Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge. Photos by Ronda Churchill Tourists Bill and Ginny Nelson of Madison, Wis., look through binoculars at the Devil's Hole pupfish Thursday. An official count suggests 84 pupfish are at Devil's Hole. Click image for enlargement.

ASH MEADOWS -- Federal and state wildlife officials announced Thursday they're stepping up efforts to save the Devil's Hole pupfish from extinction and will spare no resources to repopulate the species in a cavern inside the Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge in Nye County.

"We're pulling out all the stops to do whatever we can," said Bob Williams, field supervisor in Nevada with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

A month after authorities held a closed meeting in which they discussed recovery efforts and declined to allow media to attend, state and federal conservation officials held a news conference Thursday at Devil's Hole. The cavern, which holds about seven dozen of the fish, is in a detached unit of Death Valley National Park about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Not only is the population of fish in the natural habitat of Devil's Hole dwindling, but the numbers are going down in three tanks, known as refugia, where scientists have maintained "backup" populations of the species.

Williams said one of conservationists' highest priorities is increasing the population of Devil's Hole pupfish in the refugia tanks.

Complicating matters somewhat is the fact that another species of pupfish was able to enter one of the tanks and cross breed with the Devil's Hole pupfish.

Researchers started noticing fish with fins on their bellies in that refugium. The Devil's Hole pupfish is unique because it lacks that appendage.

One of the filters on the Devil's Hole pupfish refugium, which receives water from a nearby spring, was not fitted properly, and another species of pupfish got into the tank.

Another Devil's Hole pupfish refugium at Ash Meadows, filled with groundwater, remains uncontaminated.

Three different versions of pupfish exist in Ash Meadows, where the Amargosa and Warm Springs pupfish species swim in springs at a lower level with different temperatures than the 92-degree Devil's Hole and its species of pupfish.

A refugium at Hoover Dam, which has been in operation since the early 1970s, once lost the majority of its population after the tank developed a mechanical failure.

Also, on Sept. 11, 2004, a flash flood sent a tub of glass fish traps tumbling into Devil's Hole, killing about 80 fish, or about one-third of the population. Southern Oregon University researchers had been using the traps to assess pupfish reproduction.

But Williams said officials had expected the population to rebound since and, to their surprise, it hasn't. The problem, he and other officials at the news conference said, is that officials are trying to create a recovery plan for a species for which they have about 30 years of research.

"Our real knowledge really only goes back to the late 1960s," said Jon Sjoberg, biologist for the Nevada Department of Conservation & Natural Resources' wildlife division. "We have to base our best decisions on that limited knowledge."

That's why they're not making any hard and fast choices on a recovery plan.

Three subcommittees, composed of scientists from all over the country and possibly northern Mexico, where scientists have studied a similar species of pupfish, are being formed.

The subcommittees will provide recommendations on increasing refugee habitats, addressing habitat deficiencies and developing propagation and culturing techniques to increase pupfish population at Devil's Hole.

Williams said he is unsure whether recovery efforts will require that some fish be removed from Devil's Hole, but the subcommittees will determine the pros and cons of such a transfer.

A public meeting will be held March 30 in Pahrump at the Bob Ruud Community Center to discuss recovery efforts and take public comment and questions.

Eighty-four pupfish are at Devil's Hole, the sole known location of the species on Earth. The population once peaked at 553, according to counts, which are visually conducted by a pair of divers twice a year. Officials cautioned that the count of the inch-long, neon blue fish is an approximation.

The fish are also a tourist attraction in Death Valley.

The Nelsons, on an 11-day vacation from Madison, Wis., had heard of the little fish and found their way to the tiny watering hole to try and see it.

Having heard of its battle with extinction, Ginny Nelson, 60, said she expects her government to do its utmost to save the species.

"Once they're gone, there are no more," she said. "And you just never know what little piece of information they have."