Aquatic Life

The oceans surrounding San Francisco Bay Area national parks are home to diverse abundance of marine species including those listed below. As one of only four oceanic upwelling zones in the world, the region is home to an extremely productive collection of habitats. National Park Service boundaries extend a quarter mile off the shoreline, so many migratory species are only seasonally present within the park. For this reason, the Park Service is part of a much larger collaborative network of marine research organizations.