Someone recently joked that my autistic bingo card was nearly full. Trains? Check. Fishing? Check. Mushrooms? Check. All I needed was dinosaurs.

But I had to tell them that I check that box too. I went on a dinosaur dig in my early 30s.

One thing I didn’t mention? My long-running obsession with Sacramento perch (Archoplites interruptus). I’ve been fascinated by them since the 1970s, when I first learned they were the only sunfish native to California. At one time, they thrived all over the central valley and Salinas valley too. Common enough to be served on menus in pioneer-era San Francisco.

Now? Basically extinct in their original range. The culprit: introduced sunfish like bluegill and green sunfish. They outcompete Sacramento perch for food and prey on their young.

But here’s the twist. They still survive in odd places. Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Crowley Lake on the eastern Sierra. The Department of Fish and Wildlife has tried reintroducing them elsewhere, but results have been mixed. Lake Sonoma? No luck. Redears, bluegill, and green sunfish probably wiped them out. This year, they were stocked in a pond at Granite Regional Park in Sacramento. We’ll see how that goes.

But what recently blew my mind? A video from Kitten on the Keys, shot in Golden Gate Park. A great blue heron at Stow Lake, pulling up fish. Not just any fish. Sacramento perch! (see the closeup at 3:50!) I had no idea they live and thrive just a mile from my home.

To this day I haven’t caught one. And I don’t want to go fishing in Golden Gate Park. But one day, I think I’ll get to Crowley Lake and try to catch one there.