Chapters 1 - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Refuge Resources
There were also a number of fish collected in the early 1970s that were not collected in the 1920s.
These included: California corbina, spotted seabass (Paralabrax maculatofasciatus), white
croaker (Genyonemus lineatus), pipe surfperch (Damalichthys= Rhacochilus vacca), white
surfperch (Phanerodon furcatus), giant kelpfish (Heterostichus rostratus), and notably, topsmelt,
which was abundant in the 1970s study and one of the top ten fish taxa collected in the 1990s.
Also notable is that in the 1970s, many species, including bonefish (Albula vulpes) and cheekspot
goby (Ilypnus gilberti), were found to be uncommon in the Bay and kelp pipefish (Syngnathus
californiensis) and barred pipefish (Syngnathus auliscus) were completely absent. However,
collections made in the 1990s as part of the Port of Long Beach’s restoration monitoring program
found cheekspot goby and barred pipefish to be relatively common on the Refuge.
One of the requirements of the Port of Long Beach’s restoration project, which restored
approximately 116 acres of subtidal and intertidal habitat on the Refuge, was to conduct a five-year
monitoring program to demonstrate that the objectives of the restoration had been met. The
Forrestal, Case Road, 7 th Street, and Perimeter Ponds were all created as part of this mitigation
project to offset impacts to fish habitat. To assess the habitat quality of the restored areas relative
to the natural wetlands in Anaheim Bay, data on fish abundance, species richness, and composition
in the restored areas were collected between 1990 and 1995. The data obtained from the restored
areas were then compared with data collected at an undisturbed reference site in Anaheim Bay.
The results of the monitoring indicated that fish abundance in the mitigation area was not
significantly different from the reference site; however, significantly more species of fish were
collected in the mitigation areas (MEC 1995). There were also substantial differences in species
composition, which indicated that the mitigation areas provided more habitat for fish than did the
reference site. One reason for this may be that the subtidal habitat in the mitigation areas is
substantially deeper across the tidal range than at the reference site. By the end of the five-year
monitoring program, portions of the ponds had been colonized by eelgrass, which provided quality
habitat for pipefish, shiner surfperch, and topsmelt (MEC 1995). The mitigation ponds continue to
provide important habitat for fish and other marine organisms. Table 4-7 lists the five most
commonly collected fish species in the mitigation areas and the reference site during the five-year
monitoring program.
Table 4-7
Top Five Fish Taxa Collected in Anaheim Bay From September 1990 to July 1995
Collection Site Taxa Common Name
Restoration Areas
(Forrestal, Case Road, 7 th
Street, and Perimeter
Ponds)
Reference Site
(Anaheim Bay south of
Bolsa Avenue)
Source: (MEC 1995)
Gobiidae (unidentifiable juveniles) Goby (unidentifiable juveniles)
Clevelandia ios Arrow goby
Atherinops affinis Topsmelt
Engraulidae (unidentifiable juveniles) Anchovy (unidentifiable juveniles)
Engraulis mordax Northern anchovy
Gobiidae Goby
Atherinops affinis Topsmelt
Atherinidae (unidentifiable juveniles) Silverside (unidentifiable juveniles)
Clevelandia ios Arrow goby
Atherinidae (