Media Advisory: Endangered pupfish get new home at U of A's Biosphere 2

Oct. 16, 2025

Media Advisory: Endangered pupfish get new home at U of A's Biosphere 2

What: An endangered species of Sonoyta pupfish will be released into a recently completed stream habitat at Biosphere 2's Desert Biome.
When: Friday, Oct. 24, 1-2 p.m.
Where: Biosphere 2, 32540 S. Biosphere Road, Oracle, AZ 85623
RSVP: To RSVP, please email jadamsb2@arizona.edu and stolte@arizona.edu.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Media are invited to cover the release of endangered Sonoyta pupfish into a recently completed stream environment in the Desert Biome habitat at the University of Arizona's Biosphere 2.

As part of a Safe Harbor agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Biosphere 2, the stream cascading down a slope in Biosphere 2's Desert Biome will provide a refuge to support and perpetuate populations of Sonoyta pupfish, a species listed as critically endangered.

Only one natural population of Sonoyta pupfish remains, living in Quitobaquito Springs, a natural, artesian well in the southwestern portion of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near the U.S.-Mexico international border.

As part of a multi-agency, concerted effort to preserve this endangered species, refuge populations of Sonoyta pupfish populations have been established in about a half dozen throughout Arizona.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department will collect between 150 and 300 individual fish from one or more safe haven locations and transfer them to Biosphere 2 on the morning of Oct. 24, where they are expected to thrive and establish a local population.

The fish will be released during a media availability scheduled from 1 p.m. to about 2 p.m. Representatives from the U of A and the Arizona Game and Fish Department will be on hand for interviews and to answer questions. Attendees will include:

John Adams, deputy director and chief operating officer, Biosphere 2, University of Arizona
Jason Deleeuw, rain forest research specialist and terrestrial biome manager, Biosphere 2, University of Arizona
Brett Montgomery, topminnow and pupfish specialist, Arizona Game and Fish Department
Peter Reinthal, adjunct associate professor and curator, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona
Joaquin Ruiz, director, Biosphere 2, University of Arizona

Media contacts:
Daniel Stolte
University Communications
stolte@arizona.edu

John Adams
Biosphere 2
jadamsb2@arizona.edu

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