CSUN marine biologists help restore “baby giants” to the Santa Monica Bay

Following their unexpected arrival in a CSUN marine biology laboratory aquarium, hundreds of baby giant sea bass are being released into the Santa Monica Bay. The event was covered prominently in the Los Angeles Times last week, featuring CSUN Professor of Biology Larry Allen, whose lab adopted the "baby giants" by accident when two adult sea bass, brought in for a study of mate-attraction behaviors, produced the brood by surprise.

Giant sea bass can grow to weigh hundreds of pounds and live for decades, but they were fished to near extinction in the early 20th century, and have made only a slow comeback. Allen and his collaborators at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach hope that the reintroduction can give the imperiled population a much-needed boost.