“You wanna go to the beach and watch the grunion run?”If you like movie quotes – this one’s from the classic comedy, “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead” – now is the right time to break it out. A natural phenomenon occurs off and on now through August, when slim, silver fish native to Southern California briefly leave their homes in the Pacific to mate on the beach. These small fish are called grunion, and peeking at their mating behavior is a recognized event in San Diego, throughout Southern California and down into Baja.
During the mating process, female fish migrate to the beach to lay eggs and males join them to spawn. Once the males finish spawning, the eggs remain in the sand for about 10 days until they hatch and the fish head to the water.Despite the fish choosing random nights each year to spawn, they have been so consistent that spawning days can be predicted one year in advance, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. When the periods are four days long, the second and third nights are noted as best for observation, with two hours of peak activity. Silver Strand State Beach, Coronado Beach and La Jolla Shores are some of the top places to watch these runs, but grunion can be spotted at most of Southern California’s sandy shores.Part of July’s open watch season began Tuesday and will run until Friday, with watch times ranging from 9 p.m. to past midnight.
The last spawning of July will occur from July 29-31, continuing to Aug. 1. The final periods of the season begin Aug. 12 and Aug. 28.Grunion runs date back hundreds of years. The Kumeyaay people relied on the fish for food, but also enjoyed the time gathering on the shore.Grunion are protected by a closed season during April, May and June under regulations that began in 1927.During open seasons, people typically collect grunion as live bait, according to Reddit’s SoCalFishing thread. From July to August, those with California fishing licenses can hand-catch up to 30 fish straight off the beach. California Sea Grant offered tips on how to plan the best grunion run experience:
Look for dark, calm stretches of sand where grunion may opt to spawn. Be inconspicuous. Keep voices low and use a red light, which won’t disturb the fish, to see better. Leave pets at home. Once the grunion start their run, you can approach them, but don’t touch them or interfere as they spawn. If you need to move, walk higher up on the beach away from the fish.And where can these little fish be found outside of grunion-run season? Even the experts don’t know. “No one has figured out where they go when they’re not on the beach,” Dr. Karen Martin, a professor of biology at Pepperdine University, told California Sea Grant. “That’s a mystery.”
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