AnimalsDesert
Desert pupfish Fun facts for kids
Cyprinodon macularius
The desert pupfish lives in shallow desert pools in North America and eats algae and tiny insects.
- Where it lives
- in shallow desert pools in North America
- What it eats
- algae and tiny insects
- How big it is
- about as long as your finger
Fun facts about the desert pupfish
The ones Sammy likes best. She tells them in the game, too.
It can live in water about twice as salty as the sea.
It can survive for a short time in water so hot that most other fish could not live in it.
Pupfish got their name because they dart around and chase each other playfully, just like puppies.
It can even survive in water with very little oxygen to breathe.
Boy pupfish can turn bright shiny blue with yellow or orange tails.
When winter gets cold, it slows down and may rest in the mud at the bottom.
Boy pupfish guard their own little patch of the bottom and chase other boys away.
It is tiny, usually only about as long as your finger.
Riddle
Can a friend guess it?
Read the clues to someone, one at a time, without saying the animal. How many clues do they need? Fewer is better, just like in the game.
I spend my whole life in shallow water, and I like to swim close to the bottom.
When winter gets cold, I slow down and rest in the mud at the bottom.
I can live in water twice as salty as the sea, and in very hot water too.
The boys of my kind can turn bright shiny blue, with yellow or orange tails.
I'm a tiny fish, about as long as your finger, living in pools in the hot desert.
Sammy might be thinking of a desert pupfish.
In Thought Zoo, Sammy picks an animal and you ask her yes-or-no questions to find it. You'll find the desert pupfish in the Desert adventure.
Play the DesertComing to iPad, iPhone and Android on 12 January 2027
