 Arrow Goby Clevelandia ios
Photo by Greg Goldsmith,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Fish Tumors
Photo by Lars Tomanek,
Biologist, Cal Poly
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Ocean Creatures
Hello Ocean Lovers! Every Other Breath is From the Ocean
Here is a critter from our San Luis Obispo County coastal waters for you to enjoy!
Thank you for your interest in the Central Coast Extension of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
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Arrow Goby Clevelandia ios
The arrow goby is a small bottom-dwelling fish common year-round to the tidelands in the Morro Bay National Estuary, as well as other estuaries, lagoons and tidal sloughs. Swimming in shallow water and then borrowing into mud and sand when the tide retreats, this little 2-inch fish is important food for several types of fish like rock fish, sculpin and greenling. Some birds that eat arrow gobies include terns, knigfishers, and great herons.
The arrow goby is being studied by Cal Poly biologists, Lars Tomanek and Dean Wendt, in the Morro Bay National Estuary to determine the toxins that are causing the gobies' cancerous growths. So far, the studies indicate that the toxin is nonylphenol, a man-made chemical that breaks down from nonylphenol ethoxyates (compounds added to industrial and household detergents) when processed by wastewater treatment plants. When treated (wastewater) effluent is released into a waterway, nonylphenol and other toxins may be found to affect marine life. Regulated in both Canada and Europe, nonylphenol is suspected of reaching the estuary from Chorro Creek as it carries treated (wastewater) effluent from the California Men's Colony to the Morro Bay National Estuary.
(See "Tumors and Sex Changes, Part One and Part Two" in New Times.)
Another creek that carries treated (wastewater) effluent that may be bringing nonylphenol and other toxins to gobies and other marine life is the San Luis Obispo Creek, entering the ocean in Avila Beach.
More information on these studies are in the Marine Sanctuary article of this months' SLO Coast Journal.
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