By the end of 1970, the pupfish’s spawning area had shrunk to the size of a galley kitchen. At this point, a biologist from the University of Nevada came up with the idea of constructing a sham shelf for the fish to breed on. Made out of lumber and Styrofoam, it was installed in the deep end of the pool. Since the deep end receives even less light than the shallow end, the National Park Service rigged up a bank of one-hundred-fifty-watt bulbs to make up the difference.
