Steelhead

Steelhead trout represent a locally threatened species of fish, with an interesting trick up its sleeve; the ability to turn into rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus. m. irideus). Steelheads spend a majority of their lives in the ocean, heading upstream to procreate upon mating season as freshwater rainbow trout. Although interesting, the fact that steelhead can only breed upstream is a major factor influencing their threatened population status due to blocked access by local dams. The Temescal Creek has drawn various human populations, in part die to the abundance of trout and shellfish, but in the modern era, the stream was culverted from Lake Temescal to the San Francisco Bay. Steelhead can no longer use this once large and powerful creek to spawn, but instead are pushed further upstream in Lake Temescal (a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the osprey living in Richmond's Point Molate area.)