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If you go to the beach on certain late nights between March and September, you might have the unique experience called a Grunion Run, when the California Grunion arrive on the dark waves to swim onto the beach to spawn. The next phase is expected to begin this evening between 10 p.m. and midnight and again for two-hour periods until Tuesday night.
What brings these silvery fish for these "Grunion Runs?" It’s the combined gravitational pull of those moons and the sun that produce the highest tides of the month, and bring California Grunion ashore by the thousands to spawn.
"Grunion are unique in that they are the only fish in California that “surf” the waves up onto sandy beaches where they lay their eggs in wet sand, completely out of the water. After incubating in the sand for about 10 days, the eggs hatch during the next high tide event and the young fish swim out to sea," according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's website.
These fish generally live in the water close to shore, but when the moon and tides are just right, they swarm onto the beaches in Southern California.
This torpedo-shaped fish grow up to 7-1/2 inches long. The upper half of their bodies are a blue-green color is on the upper half of their body, with the shimmery silver on the bottom half. Their range is from The usual range for grunion extends from Point Conception, California to Point Abreojos, Baja California. Occasionally, they are found in California bays north of Point Conception, and farther south to San Juanico Bay, Baja California.
If you miss this week's Grunion Run, you can catch it again in early July. To see the schedule, visit the CDFW's website.
Photo credit: Flickr/heather. Used with a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
