{"id":270948,"date":"2012-05-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-grunion-love-story\/"},"modified":"2012-05-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T07:00:00","slug":"a-grunion-love-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-grunion-love-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Una historia de amor grunion"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a story thousands of years in the making. This story is as unique to Southern California as In-and-Out Burger. It\u2019s heard by few and seen by even less, although it is something that takes place right on our doorstep. That is how, late at night on May 23, a group of people were introduced to a diminutive, mysterious fish. “It\u2019s the story of shimmering waves, moonlit sandy beaches and reproductive mayhem. It\u2019s just your typical grunion love story.” The story, as told by Birch Aquarium staff member Lindsay Bradshaw, took place on the sand. The event, attended by 56 people, was one in the aquarium\u2019s series of summer grunion runs. In a unique seasonal phenomenon, hundreds of slender, silvery fish boogie up to the beach for a remarkable mating ritual that only occurs on Southern California\u2019s shorelines. What may appear to be a beachscape of washed up fish squirming from suffocation is, in fact, a natural onshore marvel that breathes life into the tiny sea creatures. Upon closer inspection, the so-called grunion run is an occasion where the tiny female grunion will bury the tail end of her slimy flesh into the sand to lay her eggs, while the male grunion entwines his body around hers to fertilize the eggs a few inches beneath the surface. When the spawning is complete, both catch a receding wave and ride back into the moonlit ocean unscathed. Like the phases of the moon or the cycles of the tides, the timing of grunions\u2019 journeys beyond their sea habitats is so predictable that the date could be marked on a calendar a year in advance \u2014 and is, in fact, by the California Department of Fish and Game each year. California grunions (Leuresthes tenuis) \u2014 a member of the silverside family\u00a0\u2014 make their runs when the tides are at their highest point, making a human\u2019s venture out to the beach to see the tiny creatures at work a late-night endeavor under a near full or new moon. “Grunions and the tides is something that people have known to be connected for a very long time,” said Bradshaw. “When we have the sun and the moon and the Earth all lined up, you\u2019re going to get a higher high tide than normal. Grunions, as it turns out, only come out after the highest of high tides, so that\u2019s after the full moon and the new moon.” First, the males \u2014 or scouts \u2014 ride the waves onshore, checking the beach for predators, debris, wind and a gradual slope. A few minutes after returning to sea, the scouts return to the shore accompanied by egg-laden females. And the spawning begins. “It does seem like it would be risky business coming out to the land. There are a lot of predators on land, and they know when the grunions are coming,” said Bradshaw. “But there are a lot more predators in the water than there are on land. Almost anything will eat a fish egg.” By laying their eggs so far up on the beach, grunions eliminate the threat of their eggs getting washed out to sea before they\u2019re ready to hatch. The warmer temperatures and higher oxygen levels onshore are also conducive factors for successful hatchings. Incubation in the sand lasts for two weeks until the next high tide, when the water washes the sand away. The agitation from the rising surf causes the eggs to hatch, and the eyelash-size grunions get swept to sea by the coming tide. If the conditions aren\u2019t quite right, the eggs can wait to hatch until the next moon cycle in another two weeks, or \u2014 in extreme cases \u2014 up to six weeks total, although the survival rate diminishes. “Grunion runs look like a bunch of chaos,” said Bradshaw. “The actual spawning only takes a couple of minutes to happen, but grunion can be out of the water for up to an hour. As long as their gills stay wet, they\u2019re fine.” After the grunion population took a deep dive due to over fishing in the 1920s, scientists conducted research to determine humans\u2019 effects on the species. “Regular, day-to-day activity on the beach doesn\u2019t seem to affect their hatchery. What does affect the eggs, of course, are things like sandcastle-building and digging holes, but if we think about where kids like to do that, it\u2019s closer down to the shore. It usually doesn\u2019t happen up by the high tide lines,” said Bradshaw. Beach management regulations have been improved over the years thanks to research by scientists like Scripps Institution of Oceanography-based Boyd Walker, who was the first to prove the synchronicity of grunion spawnings\u2019 correlation to the tides. Today, certain grunion fishing regulations are in place to ensure the maintenance of the ecosystem and protection of its grunion population. During peak spawning season, in April and May, grunion fishing is banned, and during the rest of the year, certain regulations must be adhered to by anyone 16 years of age and older. “You can\u2019t use special tools \u2014 just a bucket to put them in and your hands. No rods, no scoops, no digging holes to trap them,” said Bradshaw. “And remember, only take what you can use.” The grunion population is back on track since its steep dive nearly a century ago. “The fishery is maintaining itself through the regulations that are in place. We don\u2019t see an increase or decrease in our population,” she said. “A lot of the research that has been happening and general awareness of the grunion has led to advancements in thinking of beaches as ecosystems and not just our playgrounds.” To learn more about the mysterious and elusive grunion, Birch Aquarium offers guided grunion runs several times throughout the season, giving participants the chance to experience the moonlit beach exploration under the expert guidance of aquarium naturalists, along with a rare opportunity to watch grunion eggs hatch. The next and final grunion run will take place on June 6 at 10:45 p.m. For more information or to register, visit acuario.ucsd.edu<\/a> or call (858) 534-7336. Tickets are $12 for members and $10 for nonmembers. Fun facts about the little-known grunion:<\/b> \u2022 Local native tribes like the Kumeyaay have used grunion as a food source for thousands of years. They knew when the grunion would come to the beach, making it easy pickings to gather and celebrate the plentiful tide. \u2022 Grunion have inspired film, art, literary works and music. What some people know about grunion can be traced back to shows like the “Beverly Hillbillies” and “Three\u2019s Company” or the Frank Zappa tune titled “Grunion Run.” \u2022 The California grunion is only found from about Santa Barbara to Baja California, which may attribute to the fact that some people \u2014 including Californians \u2014 believe grunion to be folklore. \u2022 It wasn\u2019t until the mid-1500s that the grunion was given its name by Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo. The name is loosely translated from the Spanish for \u2018grunter.\u2019<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a story thousands of years in the making. This story is as unique to Southern California as In-and-Out Burger. It\u2019s heard by few and seen by even less, although it is something that takes place right on our doorstep. That is how, late at night on May 23, a group of people were […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":270949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"A grunion love story","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}