Hi Again Collegues,
I have asked Dave Begun, Shauna, and David Kushner as to wether Steelhead
Trout have a recorded or Chumash story presence on our Channel Islands. Nothing
conclusive yet. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, I am looking for the photos I took last
year or the year before of the very same fish in the photos I shared yesterday.
However, they were feeding in the Goleta Lagoon while it was closed off from
the sea by a sand bar near the trickling San Andreas Creek ( at the end of Ward
Dr. ).
This is a follow up about a previous question I had from hikers on the way to
Torrey Pines, asking if Grunion run to spawn on the sandy beaches there?
Cheers, Paul PS. Interesting section follows from previous link about Juvenile
Steelhead lingering in transitional estuaries, lagoons…and maybe harbors?
Although steelhead typically use estuaries to acclimate to salt and fresh water
and to grow, some steelhead may remain in the estuary or lagoon year-round,
then return upstream to spawn. This lagoon-anadromous life history has been
observed in South-Central Coast steelhead and provides an alternative for
juvenile steelhead to increase their size without exposure to ocean predators.
In one reported case in Scott Creek in Central California, estuary-reared
steelhead comprised between approximately 85-95 % of returning adults despite
being a much lower percentage of the juvenile population (Bond et al. 2008).
This hybrid life-history scenario observed in more northern steelhead
populations may accelerate steelhead recovery in Southern California.
Paul Petrich Jr
ppetrich39@xxxxxx
“In the end it is not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your
years.”…Anonymous
