The Cachorrito de la Trinidad, also known in English as the Charco Azul pupfish (''Cyprinodon inmemoriam''), was a small

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Cyprinodontidae. It was

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Ojo de Agua la Presa in southwestern Nuevo Leon state in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, but became

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

in 1985 due to habitat loss (water extraction and pollution). The same freshwater spring system was the home of three other pupfish: ''

Cyprinodon ceciliae ''Cyprinodon ceciliae'' (common names include Villa Lopez pupfish and violet pupfish) is an extinct species of pupfish. It was endemic to the Ojo de Agua la Presa in southwestern Nuevo Leon state in Mexico, but disappeared in 1990 due to habita ...

'' (extinct), ''

Cyprinodon longidorsalis ''Cyprinodon longidorsalis'', the cachorrito de charco palmal or La Palma pupfish, is a species of fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It was endemic to the Ojo de Agua la Presa in southwestern Nuevo Leon state in Mexico, but became extinct in t ...

'' (extinct in the wild, survives in captivity) and '' Cyprinodon veronicae'' (extinct in the wild, survives in captivity). Although these were from the same spring system, each was restricted to its own individual spring pool. The spring pond inhabited by the Charco Azul pupfish was also the home of a now-extinct, undescribed species of ''

Cambarellus ''Cambarellus'' is a genus of small freshwater crayfish in the family Cambaridae. The 19 species are found in Mexico (subgenus ''Cambarellus'') and the Gulf States of the United States (subgenus ''Pandicambarus''). Among the Mexican species, '' ...

'' crayfish. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''inmemoriam'' means "in memory" and signifies the extinction of the species due to its native spring being dried out by groundwater extraction soon after the discovery of this fish in 1983.

References

Cyprinodon Fish described in 1993 Endemic fish of Mexico Freshwater fish of Mexico Endangered biota of Mexico Fish of North America becoming extinct since 1500 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Cyprinodontiformes-stub