You might think when you get out of the car at Marina Del Rey that “Nothing could possibly live in here.” The area is heavily developed, with a marina and pier built out into the water, thousands of boats tethered row after row, a whole series of public works buildings and restrooms along the shore, the rusted remnants of another old structure, and buoy lines criss-crossing the surface.

There are tall buildings on almost every side, except for the expansive parking lot forming a border between the water and the freeway. The most prominent feature is not, in fact, the marina, but the massive Marriot overlooking the water. One of my partners looked up at the hotel, then back at the water and said “There is no way that any fish could live in here.”

 

However, one throw of the net hauled in hundreds of full-sized adult topsmelt, (baitfish, like anchovies) some very large striped mullet, and any number of invertebrates, like the opistobranch pictured above. I don’t mean to say that we should discount the ways that Marina Del Rey has been changed by people over the years, nor that pollution is not an issue, (Who knows what fish lived there before, or what quality of life the current fish have?) but I think it’s amazing to see how organisms will fill any avaiable environment. I hope everyone keeps an eye out to see the abundance of life that’s around them.

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