<P> Primary production is a topic of interest among those who study the California Current . In their study, Hayward and Venrick (1982) found great variability in both biomass and the productivity of phytoplankton in the California Current . The differences observed by Hayward and Venrick in carbon - fixation rates (0.2--2.0 grams carbon / (meter - squared × day)) show the heterogeneous nature of the California Current, with its combination of advected (see advection) and upwelled water . Several studies have investigated the carbon flow from primary production to the pelagic fish stocks which depend on the California Current . Lasker (1988) described powerful "jets and squirts" off northern and central California . These' jets and squirts' move large quantities of cold, nutrient rich water offshore . This water then gets carried by the southward bound California Current and adds significant primary production to the sardine population . </P> <P> A narrower, weaker counter current, the Davidson Current, occasionally moves somewhat warmer water northwards during the winter months . During El Niño events, the California Current is disrupted, leading to declines in phytoplankton, resulting in cascading effects up the food chain, such as declines in fisheries, seabird breeding failures and marine mammal mortality (Schwing et al., 2003). In 2005, a failure in the otherwise predictable upwelling events, unassociated with El Niño, caused a collapse in krill in the current, leading to similar effects (Schwing et al., 2003). </P> <P> Within the Southern California Bight a sub-region of the California Current has unique physical properties . Upwelling is fairly weak in the California Bight and Smith and Eppley (1982) stated that the 16 - year average for primary production was 0.402 grams carbon / (meter - squared × day), or approximately 150 grams carbon / (meter - squared × year). Further, Smith and Eppley (1982) found that the highest daily rates of temperature decrease were correlated with the maximum amount of upwelling . Digiacomo and Holt (2001) used satellite images to study the mesoscale and sub-mesoscale eddies in the Southern California Bight . Their work showed that all eddies were less than 50 km in diameter and 70% of all eddies measured less than 10 km . The eddies appeared to be caused mostly by topography (particularly islands), wind, and instabilities in the current . The location of these eddies was mainly between the California Current (flowing toward the equator) and the coastline . The majority of these eddies were cyclonic and had the ability to induce the upwelling of nutrient - rich water . Small scale topographic features such as headlands have been shown to cause substantial effects on the population dynamics of benthic invertebrates, such a change in the settlement patterns of crabs and sea urchin . </P> <P> In the 2016 Disney / Pixar animated film Finding Dory, the CC is portrayed as a superhighway that fish and sea turtles use to travel to California . The characters Marlin, Nemo, and Dory join a group of sea turtles in using the CC and the East Australian Current to help them travel to Morro Bay, California . </P>

Current responsible for moving heat away from the equator