A screen shot of video of waves in Devils Hole/NPS, Ambre Chaudoin

Tectonic shuddering triggered by Mexico's earthquake this week traveled 1,500 miles in five minutes to send 4-foot-tall waves through Devils Hole, a limestone cavern at Death Valley National Park that is home to a rare species of pupfish.

The magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook the Mexican states of Colima and Michoacán at 11:05 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Monday. Five minutes later, water started sloshing in Devils Hole. The waves reached 4 feet high around 11:35 a.m., according to park staff. 

Devils Hole is a partially water-filled limestone cave in a Nye County, Nevada, unit of Death Valley National Park.  The cave is hundreds of feet deep, but the endangered Devils Hole pupfish depend upon algae that grows on a shallow, sunlit shelf.  

Monday’s waves, technically known as a seiche, stirred the sediment and rocks on the shallow shelf, also removing much of the algae growth. In the short term, this reduces food available to the pupfish.   

“The pupfish have survived several of these events in recent years,” said Kevin Wilson, a National Park Service aquatic ecologist. “We didn’t find any dead fish after the waves stopped.” 

The Devils Hole pupfish population has been on an upswing lately. Nine years ago, there were only 35 fish in their natural habitat. In March this year, the population was up to 175 fish. The annual fall pupfish count is planned for this weekend.