Two days after the state passed a landmark law to improve the state's ecosystem and water delivery last week, environmental groups filed lawsuits over two dwindling fish species in the Bay-Delta.

One of the groups -- the Tucson, Ariz.,-based Center for Biological Diversity -- expressed doubt that the new law would do enough to save the fish.

The groups want federal officials to raise the Endangered Species Act status of the delta smelt from threatened to endangered. They also want officials to reconsider their rejection of a petition to protect the longfin smelt.

The endangered designation for the delta smelt would tighten federal standards for development or water permits.

The Bay Institute in Novato also was involved in the federal lawsuits.