First Beach Seine of the Summer

By Jade Dean

Our first beach seine was held this past Saturday at the Colorado Lagoon and the Peninsula in Long Beach, CA. The purpose of the beach seine is to not only learn about the various organisms in Alamitos Bay, but to also better understand and gauge stress in fish along the California coastline. Our partner, Pacific Coast Environmental Conservancy, is measuring stress by analyzing its hormones and tissues. Read more about their research here.

Here are some of our results from Saturday:

• Over 800 Topsmelt (Atherinops affinis) caught at the Peninsula.
• Over 80 California Killifish (Fundulus parvipinnis) caught at the Colorado Lagoon.
• The largest fish of the day was a California Halibut (Paralichthys californicus) that measured 14.3cm or 5.6in.