The Catarina pupfish was first observed in 1972 when it was discovered in a small spring in Nuevo León, Mexico. In the late 1980’s & early 1990’s their numbers began to dwindle. In 1987 & 1992, Scientists began collecting specimens to protect them from extinction. In 1994, its home spring dried up, leaving a few specimens in a small side spring. That year the Catarina pupfish was labeled “extinct in the wild”. This pupfish was extremely difficult to breed in captivity and slowly began to die off, first in European collections, then in Mexico. The Children's Aquarium at Fair Park in Dallas Texas had the only remaining Catarina pupfish population by December of 2012. Those 20 individuals slowly died off, and when the last female died in 2013, the remaining 4 male specimens were shipped to the University of California, Berkeley for hybridization. Several females were hatched, but soon died too. In 2014, the last Catarina pupfish in the world, a lone male, died leaving this unique pupfish extinct. Although Jurassic Park is fiction, scientists are working on several de-extinction projects. In fact, in 2003 scientists did bring back the extinct Pyrenean ibex, a type of wild goat, for 7 minutes before it died, showing de-extinction is possible. The Catarina pupfish might be a candidate. Scientists could use DNA from the pupfish that died in captivity as recently as 2014. If the Catarina pupfish was brought back, could it survive in Mexico again? The return of the Catarina pupfish would be extremely difficult for two reasons. Its native spring in Nuevo León, Mexico dried up in 1994. Although a few individuals were found in a side spring, it did not seem to be a preferred habitat for this small fish. The second hurdle for the return of the Catarina pupfish would be the fact that it was extremely difficult to care for and breed in captivity. So while not impossible, the Catarina pupfish would have trouble surviving if it was ever brought back from extinction.