Anchovies are the most abundant schooling fish on the west coast.
And anchovies, along with squid, can also be said to foster the entire ocean food web of things larger than them. Anchovies, Sardines and Mackerel Only a few decades ago, sardines were the most abundant schooling fish in Monterey Bay until they were overfished, reducing the healthy five-year reproducing age classes to just two. Subsequent bad environmental local conditions for spawning two years in a row caused the crash of the entire population. Anchovy populations then swelled enjoying the same nutrient-rich waters that supported the sardines. Dense schools of anchovies will appear gleaming in the waters around the Wharf throughout summer drawn, in turn, by clouds of teeming plankton.