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Endangered Fish Begins Comeback In Tomales Bay

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Oct 30, 2009 12:58 pm US/Pacific

Endangered Fish Begins Comeback In Tomales Bay

TOMALES BAY (BCN) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: A tidewater goby.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

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Three agencies released 150 endangered tidewater goby fish in a shallow lagoon at Tomales Bay State Park Thursday morning.

The 2-inch, native California fish has lost its native habitat in the brackish waters of lagoons, estuaries and marshes along the California coast between Del Norte and San Diego counties because of drainage, water quality changes, predators and drought, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. They were listed as endangered in 1973.

The National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Parks and Recreation participated in the release of the fish Friday morning at Tomales Bay State Park.

The fish has an unusual appearance that includes big eyes, a pug mouth, very large fins for its size and an unusual female-dominant breeding pattern.

National Park Service spokesman John Dell'Osso said the male fish digs a depression in the sand with his mouth, the female lays 200-400 eggs in the depression and the male cares for the young fish.

The tidewater goby fish were recently discovered in a stream during a wetlands project and have not been seen in larger numbers since 1950, Dell'Osso said.

The release of the tidewater goby into a shallow shoreline lagoon Friday is the first test projects to restore the fish to its original habitat, Dell'Osso said.