Fish & Wildlife Around Victoria

Wildlife Around Victoria

Please note some of these links are dead due to change of BC government policy We need a volunteer webmaster / researcher / writer to help update our systems. If you wish to help contact John R. Roe volws@salishsea.ca many thanks to Jason Bryne for his work on this site.

There are many different kinds of animals that can be observed in and around Victoria waterways. These include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, all of which make use of the aquatic habitat to different degrees. This variation means that water quality and pollution affect each of these groups of animals in different ways.

Harbour Seal

Fish species such as coho and three-spine stickleback live and feed in the water. High degrees of water pollution reduces the amount of oxygen available for fish to breathe, increased sedimentation makes it more difficult for them to find food and this food may then be contaminated.

Amphibians and reptiles may spend a significant portion of their life histories in the water, or they may only take some of their food from there. If they feed on fish, then they could be eating highly contaminated food, as the concentration of toxins magnifies with each step up the food chain (biomagnification)

. Crayfish

Mallard ducks and many other birds spend most of their time living and nesting on or near the water, and often take their food from the water. Pollution can affect their reproductive success, resulting in thin-shelled eggs that don't hatch. Biomagnification can occur when fish is a major part of the diet.

Finally, mammals do not tend to be as directly affected by water quality, however, indirectly they can be affected by biomagnification if they feed on fish or other aquatic animals.

All animals are affected by a loss of habitat through urban development as available habitat is reclaimed and developed. Despite all this, there are still many different kinds of wildlife that can be observed and identified around Victoria.