There is little diversity of freshwater habitat within the park. Most habitats are fast flowing mountain streams with little variety of bottom sediments. With fewer habitats available, fewer types of fish are found. Eight species of fish have been identified from lakes and streams within the park: cutthroat and steelhead trout, Dolly Varden char, sockeye, kokanee, chum and coho salmon, coast range sculpin, prickly sculpin, threespine stickleback and the Pacific lamprey. Aside from the fish, it is interesting to note that freshwater shrimp have been found in Kennedy Lake and Lost Shoe Creek.
Marine fish are much more numerous and diverse. There are approximately 200 different species in the tidal waters of the park. Beached specimens and sightings indicate that an additional 100 species are accidental (out of range) visitors to the park.
Pacific salmon are well known in the park area. Commercial and sports fisherman operating out of coastal communities adjacent to the park prize local runs of chinook, coho, pink, chum and sockeye.
There are many types of rockfish with fanciful names: Yellowtail, Canary, China, Quillback and Tiger, to name a few. Sculpins are abundant. Like rockfish, sculpins are primarily bottom-dwellers, with most preferring a rocky substrate. Greenlings and sea perch are abundant. Great schools of herring are the focus of much commotion in the early spring when numerous marine predators, birds and man intercept them en route to the spawning shallows. Sticklebacks and pipefish inhabit beds of eelgrass. Spiny dogfish are common to the area and often plague the lines of local fisherman. From time to time, skates are sighted. Their egg cases are curiosities with inquisitive beachcombers who encounter them along the tidelines of park beaches. Cod, flounder, sole and halibut are found in park waters, as well as ferocious looking wolf eels and ratfish.
Nearby Regions & Towns:
- Tofino
- Ucluelet
- Pacific Rim (West Coast)
- Pacific Rim Highway 4
- Barkley Sound
- Broken Group Islands
- Bamfield
- Port Renfrew
- Port Alberni
More Information:
Parks Canada – British Columbia
Box 129, 23433 Mavis Avenue
Fort Langley, BC
V1M 2R5
Phone: 604-513-4777
