11 



Faunal Affinities 



Ecological 



The benthonic fauna in Santa Monica Bay has its 

 closest affinities with that in the adjacent San Pedro 

 areao The kinds and numbers of species are somewhat 

 higher in the San Pedro embayment because of its greater 

 diversity of physical features. It also supports many 

 species requiring currents, such as the large associations 

 of Chaetopterus (polychaete), Ophiothrix (brittle star), 

 and gorgonian corals which flourish in abundance near 

 Whites Point; the large beds of Tagelus (jack-knife 

 clam) just outside the Los Angeles breakwater, and the 

 siliceous sponge associations along the steep slopes 

 of submerged mountainso These, and other kinds, are 

 sparse to absent in the Santa Monica area. Undersea 

 gardens of macrokelps with their rich associations of 

 animals both in the protecting canopy above and in the 

 sediments below, which abound in great numbers along the 

 leeward shores of Santa Catalina Island, are present 

 near Malibu in Santa Monica Bay, but much less extensive. 



The outer basins (Catalina, Santa Cruz, San Clemente, 

 and others) off southern California have been found 

 (Hartraan, unpublished) to have many different kinds of 

 animals not present in the near shore basins (San Pedro 

 and Santa Monica). The densities in the outer basins 

 (mass productivities) are, however, much lower except in 

 places where nutrients are supplied from outside sources 



