Long Live the Fire Fish

 
 
As some of the worst fires in Los Angeles history swept through the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods in January 2025, Rosi Dagit, who was herself evacuated from her home in Topanga, couldn’t stop thinking about the fish. Rosi is the Principal Conservation Biologist with the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, and the fish keeping her up at night were small Northern Tidewater gobies and Southern Steelhead trout, both federally-listed endangered species in the Topanga Creek watershed, which was on fire.   

 
To be clear, Rosi wasn’t concerned about the fish catching on fire. She was concerned with suffocation. Almost the entire Topanga Creek watershed had burned, from ridgeline to ridgeline and down to Topanga lagoon abutting the ocean. As hillsides burn, they begin to destabilize as the vegetation and roots that normally hold the sediment in place disappear. The combination of the water used by fire crews to put out the fires and one of the first significant rainfall events of the 2025 season caused the hillsides to start sliding away in a muddy torrent funneled down through the watershed creeks and streams, burying anything swimming beneath the surface or even washing them out to sea.

Not New to Danger 

 
Both the Northern Tidewater Goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi) and the Southern Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were living on the edge before the fires. The tidewater goby was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1994 under the Endangered Species Act. This two-inch-long, semi-translucent, tannish fish used to inhabit 150 coastal lagoons, estuaries, and marshes along the California coast, but with habitat fragmentation and the filling of many coastal wetlands, gobies are much less abundant.

 
Despite being tough and hearty—living in salt water, fresh water, or brackish (mixed salt and fresh) water, adapting to varying salinity and temperature depending on the season—the gobies have been threatened by habitat loss, water quality, drought, and invasive predators. Although many love the goby simply for its undeniable cuteness, it plays a critical role in the coastal ecosystem as an important food source for shore birds, the Southern steelhead trout, and the commercially and recreationally valuable California halibut. Groups like Rosi’s have been trying to protect gobies from threats like drought and dredging of lagoons and estuaries, which have completely wiped out some of their populations along the coast.  

 
Southern California Steelhead trout were first listed as endangered in 1997 and have remained in that vulnerable state since. Under the 2012 Southern California Steelhead Recovery Plan, the National Marine Fisheries Service has been working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and local partners like Rosi and the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains.  

 
Southern California Steelhead range from just north of Santa Barbara to the U.S.-Mexico border. Like all steelhead, they are born in streams, migrate to the ocean, and then return to their natal rivers and streams to breed and lay eggs ideally in pools of cool, clean water. Dams, water diversion, the channelization of waterways (e.g., straightening, paving), pollution, invasive species, and drought have all contributed to the loss of this species.  

 
When Rosi realized that the post-fire mud flows would likely smother everything in their path, including all the endangered fish in Topanga Creek, she mobilized a team. With just under $8,000 of discretionary emergency funding from USC Sea Grant, and assisted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Dr. Brenton Spies, a Professor in the Environmental Science and Resource Management Program at California State University, Channel Islands, Rosi prepared for not one but two fish rescues.  

Fish Rescues

Led by Rosi and California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists, the heroic volunteer rescue efforts in late January 2025, covered by the Los Angeles Times, saved 271 Steelhead trout and 760 tidewater gobies. The volunteers used nets to scoop the gobies, who were then transported to holding tanks at Heal the Bay’s Aquarium in Santa Monica and the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. 

The steelhead were captured using electrofishing (a current applied to the water to stun the fish) and netting, and then were transferred by trucks with large holding tanks to the Fillmore Hatchery in Ventura County. And all this was happening amidst the chaos on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, where burned power poles were falling and people were fleeing or trying to remain and protect their homes from the historic blazes that ultimately consumed 23,000 acres. Rosi and her partners had to coordinate with California Highway Patrol, Cal Fire, local police, and many others to make this desperate fish rescue happen. But for Rosi, “It was the opportunity to do something positive and hopeful in the face of so much destruction.” 

A New Home for the Steelhead

Despite the best efforts of the scientists at the Fillmore hatchery, it quickly became clear that the 271 rescued steelhead were not happy in their temporary housing and were not eating well. A new home was paramount. In an interesting twist of fate, the Arroyo Hondo Creek just north of Santa Barbara had similarly burned in 2021, and all the trout in that creek had been buried and died.

The team decided that Arroyo Hondo Creek, whose vegetation had grown back, was ready for new occupants. On February 10, the Topanga-rescued steelhead were given a new home in Arroyo Hondo. And as of May 2025, the new fish were already reproducing in Arroyo Hondo!

“The ultimate goal is to bring some of these fish back to Topanga Creek,” says Rosi. “But this will take years, as there are no pools left in Topanga.” For now, the rescued fish have a home, and hopefully can maintain a healthy population to help repopulate other creeks as habitats like Topanga are restored. 

The Return of the Gobies

Heal the Bay’s Aquarium and the Aquarium of the Pacific were the two facilities authorized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services to take in the homeless gobies. As critical partners in the rescue effort, both aquarium teams provided daily care and support in isolated systems (separate from the rest of the aquarium’s tanks) for the last five months. They were fed live brine shrimp, which they seemed to enjoy, indicating they were doing well in captivity. According to Rosi, the gobies might have been doing “a little too well,” as they were gaining weight on their “buffet dinners” in captivity.  

Despite being quite happy at their new all-you-can-eat buffet, the gobies needed to go home. Late spring and early summer are typical spawning times for gobies; indeed, some carried eggs. Rosi and the rest of the team wanted this to happen in the wild. 

On June 17, poetically five months after the heroic rescue, USC Sea Grant staff joined Rosi and other staff from Santa Monica Mountains Resource Conservation District, Heal the Bay Aquarium staff, Aquarium of the Pacific staff, California State Parks, California State University, Channel Islands, the local indigenous community, and others to release over 300 gobies into Topanga lagoon.

This small moment held hope for many. With a blessing in the four directions, Robert Dorame, the tribal elder of the Gabrielino-Tongva Indians of California, opened the event. Rosi spoke about the history of gobies in Topanga Creek. Dr. Spies gave a powerful overview of why gobies are important to the ecology of lagoon ecosystems and how they once ranged along the whole west coast. “It’s not just this one individual fish that we’re trying to save,” he said. “It’s the health of these ecosystems.” 

One could not help but wonder if the tiny fish realized they were home as they darted into the lagoon from their plastic coolers. Robert sprinkled sage into the water. “It was lovely and symbolic,” said Rachel Darling, USC Sea Grant’s Science, Research, and Policy Specialist, who had come to watch the momentous release.  

Already looking to the future, Rosi added, “I’m looking forward to gathering everyone together again sometime in the future when we can bring the steelhead back to Topanga as well!”

A Role for Conservation Aquaculture

Rosi readily admits that a last-minute rescue of these fish will not save the tidewater goby or steelhead trout in the long run. These are species that face multiple threats and have for decades. Their survival depends on the restoration of their river, creek, lagoon, and estuary habitats, removal of dams, improvements in water quality, and sustainable catch limits for the steelhead. These are bigger and harder problems to solve, requiring multi-jurisdictional coordination and changes in land and coastal use policies. 

But this project does go beyond a one-time fish rescue. It demonstrated the ability of steelhead trout to easily adapt to a restored creek. The burning of Arroyo Hondo in 2021 was devastating, but this spring, it offered new hope to a population of displaced fish. “It’s not every day that we get to bring animals back to their home,” said Rosi. 

The fire fish rescue also demonstrated how some aquaculture can serve conservation. In the case of the tidewater goby, this conservation aquaculture can potentially give a chance to a species that might have otherwise been lost forever. The term ‘aquaculture’ has had some public relations issues over the decades. But like the word ‘farming,’ we can no longer make blanket value statements about ‘aquaculture.’ Aquaculture farms all over the U.S. are delivering high-value protein to American tables, pushing the ever-expanding uses of farmed seaweed into new sectors, and, like in the case of the tidewater goby, being used as a tool to help managers save species.   

The Heal the Bay Santa Monica Pier Aquarium hopes to continue working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on initiatives supporting this essential endangered species work. “This collaborative effort is not just about saving a species,” said Heal the Bay in their spring blog on the gobies. “It’s a hopeful step in preserving the entire ecosystem after the devastating fires.”  Heal the Bay has a partnership with Santa Monica College and plans to introduce students in the Sustainable Aquaculture Certification Program to the gobies and how conservation aquaculture can help support endangered species.  

There is Resilience in Partnership

“Partnerships are what get things done, and we are so lucky to have partners like Sea Grant and the others involved in this project,” says Rosi. USC Sea Grant saw an opportunity during the fires to do exactly the type of work we excel at: mobilizing quickly to work with multiple regional partners to contribute to solving a problem. As an organization that also works in the area of water quality and resilient coastal practices and policies, USC Sea Grant acknowledges that the fire fish rescue was merely a stop-gap measure to ensure these fish were not completely wiped out from these local watersheds. Habitat restoration is critical, and USC Sea Grant applauds the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains and others for working on these long-term issues. 

However, USC Sea Grant also sees the value in a multifaceted approach to saving these species. “We couldn’t just let an entire population of fish die in a mudslide,” says Phyllis Grifman, USC Sea Grant’s Executive Director. “Conservation aquaculture and community education, in addition to habitat restoration, will be necessary to keep these species from going extinct.” 

What became abundantly clear during the fires and the subsequent six months was the number of people who are not willing to watch these two species of fish go extinct. “USC Sea Grant was happy we could help with the fire fish rescue,” said Phyllis.  “And we look forward to working with our regional partners to help these populations not just survive, but recover.”  USC Sea Grant is part of the technical advisory panel of the Topanga Lagoon Restoration Project, which is a multiagency cooperative effort seeking to protect and restore biological and cultural resources, create an integrated program for coastal access, emergency response, and interpretation, as well as proactively address the effects of sea level rise. 

As the gobies were returned to Topanga Lagoon, Dr. Spies commented to the small crowd that he had never studied a more adaptable fish. Give them water and habitat, and they seem to find a way to survive. In a way, the gobies reminded him of Los Angeles: resilient in the face of many challenges. Oil spills. Coastal flooding. Social and cultural threats. Los Angeles survives by coming together as a community through teamwork.

The goby is no exception.