Hundreds of tiny endangered fish slipped from orange plastic buckets into a glittering lagoon in Malibu on Tuesday, returning home five months after being whisked away from threats wrought by the Palisades fire. The repatriation of more than 300 northern tidewater gobies — led by the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains — marked a peaceful moment in a region still reeling from the aftermath of wildfires. … In January, (conservation biologist Rosi) Dagit orchestrated a successful rescue of 760 of the semi-translucent, swamp-colored fish from Topanga Lagoon, an unassuming biodiversity hotspot located off the Pacific Coast Highway that drains into the Santa Monica Bay. The Palisades fire that sparked Jan. 7 tore through the area, scorching all of the critical habitat for the gobies and an endangered population of steelhead trout that occupied the same watershed. … Scientists and citizen volunteers arrived on Jan. 17 and used giant nets that served as sieves to retrieve the fish that rarely exceed a length of two inches.

Related articles:

• City News Service: Rescued tidewater goby fish returned to wild in Santa Monica Mountains​
• Aquarium of the Pacific: News release: Rescued northern tidewater gobies return to their home in the Santa Monica mountains
• KTLA (Los Angeles): Hundreds of endangered fish returned to habitat after Palisades Fire rescue