Fishes of Sespe Creek, California
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Sespe Creek winds over thirty-one miles through valleys and sometimes very narrow canyons in the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County, California.
The creek starts at Portero Seco, and is formed by more than thirty tributay streams before it empties into the Santa Clara River in Fillmore. Sespe Creek is a National Scenic Waterway, and is one of the longest creeks untouched by dams or cement channels. The Sespe Creek area is probably more famous for its 53,000 acre Condor Sanctuary created in 1947.
This is where the California Condor (Gymnogyps californicus) has been re-introduced into the Sespe Condor Sanctuary after a successful breeding program at the San Diego Zoo.
At least twelve native and introduced fishes can be found in the creek:
- Pacific Lamprey
- Threespine Stickleback
- Santa Ana Sucker
- Arroyo Chub
- Green sunfish (introduced)
- Rainbow trout (Steelhead)
- Prickly Sculpin
- Fathead Minnow (introduced)
- Black bullhead (introduced)
- Mosquitofish (introduced)
- Golden shiner (introduced)
- Threadfin shad (introduced)
First of these is the Pacific Lamprey Lampertra tridenteta The lamprey enters Sespe Creek from the Santa Clara River- which empties in the Pacific Ocean. A more common fish is the threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus which is easily identified by its three dorsal spines.
The Santa Ana Sucker Catostomus santaanae is common around waterfalls. The Arroyo Chub Gila Orcutti is often found in schools. The Green sunfish Lepomis cyanellus can be found in shallow, weedy areas.
