Environment : Notes about your surroundings.

ANCHOVY ATTACK: Anchovies, the little fish popular as live bait and pizza topping, invaded the waters of Dana Point Harbor this week in dramatic numbers. “The harbor is filled with so many anchovies, it’s bubbling,” reported Harry Helling, education director of the Orange County Marine Institute, on Thursday. “I’ve never seen it like this.”

Rhonda Reed, an associate marine biologist with the state Fish and Game department, said overall numbers of anchovies are up only slightly from last year. But, she said, “it’s not at all unusual for very large schools to congregate where there is available food and the water is a little warmer.” At one point this week in Dana Point Harbor it was possible to pluck the fish out of the water by hand, Helling said, but by Friday the numbers had tapered.

The northern anchovy ( Engraulis mordax ) grows to about 9 inches long and lives in coastal waters from northern British Columbia to Cabo San Lucas in Baja California. An important commercial fish, it is also a major food source for birds, mammals and other fishes.