[5][6] Currently, they are listed as endangered by the American Fisheries Society and are a species of special concern according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

[4][6] Today, people pass through the town of Shoshone to visit the spring site and view the rare pupfish, where some infographics and signs educate visitors about them.

[9][10] The Shoshone pupfish is characterized by large scales and a "slab-sided", narrow, slender body, with the arch of the ventral contour much less pronounced than the dorsal.

[4][2] All Amargosa pupfish subspecies are deep-bodied, dorsoventrally flattened fish with body lengths of less than 50 mm with blunt, steeply sloped heads and terminal mouths.

The edges of their tail, dorsal, pectoral, and anal fins are lined with individual black bands.

[4] Additionally, females commonly possess an ocellus (eyespot) on the posterior base of their dorsal fin.

[4] Despite being isolated as the only fish species within their biological community for an extended period, Shoshone pupfish exhibit antipredator behaviors by reducing movement and activity, as well as lowering their positions in the water column when they detect chemical alarm cues from injured conspecifics.

[11] Conservationists can use this aspect of their behavior to manage them in multi-species habitats, considering that invasive western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) predate on Shoshone pupfish where their territories overlap.

Characteristic to many aquatic herbivores, their guts are extremely long and convoluted, an adaptation that enables them to digest cyanobacteria.

This is a small spring that feeds into the upper Amargosa River in the town of Shoshone, Inyo County, California.

[4][12] Historically, Shoshone pupfish were found in the entire length of the spring, from the head pool (known as "Squaw Hole") to the other end west of Highway 127.

The first hypothesis suggests that Cyprinodon nevadensis from another area reached Shoshone Spring through a temporary water connection during or after a flood.

The third hypothesis proposes that the Shoshone pupfish simply remained undetected between 1969 and 1986 due to a small population size.

[4] Most of the Cyprinodon species in the western United States are low in numbers and are in need of conservationist aid via habitat restoration and preservation.

[13] The Shoshone pupfish is threatened by a multitude of factors, with a few including their extremely limited distribution, habitat alteration, and invasion of introduced species (namely western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis).

Managers regularly conduct surveys of the pupfish via minnow traps, visual counts, and statistical models to keep track of their population and ensure that their habitats are adequate for survival.