In reading about the dying “Salton Sea”, I learned that researchers have found that the Sea had existed in prehistoric times. The ancient sea had a shoreline considerably larger than the present one, and on the remnants of the ancient shoreline, they have found evidence of ancient fish traps. So, at some point in the past, there existed a lake with a healthy ecosystem, and full of fish…which supported a human population. Since the sea is in the middle of a desert, how did the fish get in? i assume the ancient lake was formed like the present one (flooding from the Colorado Rive)-would that have stocked the lake.
At present, the like is dying-if the salt concentration gets higher, all fish in it will die. Will the state of California do anything to save the sea?
Wikipedia says it is fed by rivers.
" Tilapia are the main fish that can tolerate the high salinity levels and pollution. Other freshwater fish species live in the rivers and canals that feed the Salton Sea, including threadfin shad, carp, red shiner, channel catfish, white catfish, largemouth bass, mosquitofish, sailfin molly, and the endangered desert pupfish"
I presume the fish came from rivers that feed the sea.
I took a tour of Mt. St. Helens around 1990. The guide explained that a certain lake had been sterilized during the eruption of 1980, it now (in 1990) had a substantial frog population. I don’t recall if there were fish, although it wouldn’t surprise me. The likeliest explanation was that eggs had been carried in with mud on bird’s feet that had dropped into the lake. I guess the same would have happened with fish eggs.
Mosquito fish, gambusia affinis, are live bearers. 
This forum requires that you wait 60 seconds between posts. Please try again in 1 seconds.I believe you’re thinking of Spirit Lake and it does contain fish now but unlike the frogs and salamanders, the fish were introduced.