The Ash meadows killifish (Empetrichthys merriami) was first documented by C. H. Gilbert (1893) and historically occupied numerous springs near Ash Meadows, Nye County, Nevada. This species was last seen in 1948 and is believed to have gone extinct in the early 1950s, likely as a result of habitat alteration and competition with and predation by introduced red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), black mollies (Poecilia sphenops), and american bullfrogs (Rana catesbiana).