Fish in the Bay – January 2024 – Longfin New Year!
Otolith Geochemistry & Fish Ecology Laboratory
by Jim Ervin
1M ago
Our first trawls of the new year were fairly spectacular for a mid-January: 731 Longfin Smelt. – This month alone beats all annual counts before 2021.  Longfins have returned! 151 Herring. – The previous January record was 7 in 2014.  These were all youngsters (young-of-year.)  The Herring spawn about this time last year must have been very productive – or possibly very local?  Do Herring return to natal waters like Salmon & Steelhead? 93 Starry Flounder. – We have never seen more than 21 Starries in a January. Usually, the number is closer to one or zero. 42 Pacific ..read more
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Fish in the Bay – November 2023, Part 3 – Bat Rays to the Rescue?
Otolith Geochemistry & Fish Ecology Laboratory
by Jim Ervin
3M ago
We caught 36 Bat Rays in November.  It was unexpected to see so many this late in the year.  With these additional Rays, the 2023 count is 206.  Holy Bat Ray, Batman!  This is a new record Bat Ray year! Bat Rays arrived late this summer.  The big rainwater flush in January through March lowered salinity Bay salinity.  We presume that discouraged Rays from entering Lower South Bay (LSB). Up until September, only 18 Rays had shown up = a horrible year. The 47 babies caught in September established a decent annual count. Another 105 babies and young adults were caug ..read more
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Fish in the Bay – November 2023, Part 2 – Micro World.
Otolith Geochemistry & Fish Ecology Laboratory
by Jim Ervin
4M ago
Sami and Janai loading the net on Saturday morning. For this second part of the November report, Janai gave us a short glimpse of the microbial world in Lower South San Francisco Bay – and a major discovery.    1. Water colors. Water colors had changed dramatically.  In October, waters were uniformly “Luau Green” (Sherwin Williams #27) at almost all stations.  By 11-12 November, water colors had turned slightly browner and much more variable.  Colors ranged from “Bengal Grass” to “Melange Green.”  Water clarity also dropped considerably in November. (Turbidity w ..read more
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Fish in the Bay – October 2023, Fall Begins.
Otolith Geochemistry & Fish Ecology Laboratory
by Jim Ervin
5M ago
Several October spoilers were given in the previous post.  Much more remains to be reported. We will only cover a few important developments for now.   Longfin Smelt.  Longfins are returning for the winter spawn. The Silverside Tsunami is subsiding.  But, don’t be fooled.  They will be back!   Shimofuri Explosion.  Shimo numbers are also in decline after September.  Don’t be fooled.  They too, will be back! 105 Bat Rays in October!  With September and October results, we jumped from a crappy Bat Ray year to a new potential record-breaker ..read more
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Fish in the Bay – September 2023, Summer’s End.
Otolith Geochemistry & Fish Ecology Laboratory
by Jim Ervin
5M ago
A belated September fish report:  I missed September trawls, but Sami, Niko, and Janai sent me some photos. I got great photos of water color from them because everyone was watching the water for any signs of potential H. akashiwo red tide in September.  However, fish photos were a little sparse. For that reason, I am using some October photos (and some October spoilers) to round out the story in this report. Big stories in September: No H. akashiwo red tides were observed! LSB marshes once passed the test. Late summer blooms of non-native Silversides and Shimofuris were observed ..read more
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Fish in the Bay – August 2023, Starry, Starry Summer!
Otolith Geochemistry & Fish Ecology Laboratory
by Jim Ervin
6M ago
The big story for August is that another 464 baby Starries were caught.  When added to all the Starries caught since January, that makes a total of 1,260 for 2023 so far.  I felt inspired to photoshop my own interpretation of Van Gogh’s famous painting. Other interpretations of “The Starry Night.” Historical interpretation: Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night: Great Art Explained https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk9L1N9bRRE  Musical interpretation: Don McLean – Vincent, The Story Behind The Song   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTGcyuEU6Wo  Scientific interpreta ..read more
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Fish in the Bay – August 2023 Highlights: Shimos, Anchovies, & Blackbirds in the Bulrush marsh.
Otolith Geochemistry & Fish Ecology Laboratory
by Jim Ervin
7M ago
In August, the fish populations finally transitioned to a more typical summertime assemblage of Anchovies and Gobies.    However, a few distinct differences remain. These will be discussed in a subsequent post:  A huge Starry Flounder baby boom continues. A few odd-ball fresher water fishes continued to show up. Leopard Shark and Bat Ray counts remain very low. This post describes 1) The Shimofuri Goby population explosion, 2) Summertime spawning Anchovies, and 3) Possible sightings of tricolored blackbirds in the tall bulrush along Dump Slough.   1. Shimofuri Goby Explo ..read more
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Fish in the Bay – July 2023, Record Starry Year
Otolith Geochemistry & Fish Ecology Laboratory
by Jim Ervin
7M ago
Record Starry Year!  As reported earlier, the year-to-date Starry count had already exceeded the previous record year as of June, (Previous record: 465 in 2012)  We caught another 266 baby Starries in July which brought the 2023 total to 796!      Still very fresh.  Salinity continued to be in the low single digits at almost all upstream stations.  The freshness was impeding the arrival of summer-spawning Anchovies.   Salinities were higher at downstream stations but still fresh enough to discourage all but a few sharks and rays.   1. Starry Flou ..read more
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Fish in the Bay – July 2023, Special Report: Marsh Plants in the restored Garden of Eden.
Otolith Geochemistry & Fish Ecology Laboratory
by Jim Ervin
7M ago
Summer is when the marsh turns greenest.  I have not blogged enough about plants.   1. Oasis & Bass Sanctuary at Art1. Clear dark water at the upstream end of Artesian Slough (station Art1) on 1 July 2023. Water at Art1 is always freshest owing to the ongoing discharge from the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility.  However, the big rains earlier this year are still keeping the sloughs a little fresher than usual as of July. Upstream salinity readings at Art1, UCoy1, and Dump1 were essentially the same = 3.3 to 3.6 ppt.   Water color was muddy gree ..read more
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Fish in the Bay – June 2023, Is Summer here yet?
Otolith Geochemistry & Fish Ecology Laboratory
by Jim Ervin
9M ago
More baby fishes showed up in June!  This included 60 baby Longfin Smelt and 178 baby Starry Flounder which is unprecedented this late in the year. However, total fish numbers dropped off considerably, which is completely normal for a June.  In most years, we call the warm months “Anchovy and Goby Season.” They are the main fish types that thrive in the upper marshes when waters warm and Dissolved Oxygen (DO) drops. This year is a little different …   Water remained very fresh and DO was very high at all upstream stations.  This is good news for Longfin Smelt, but bad new ..read more
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