Fish Out of Water : When the Grunion Run, So Does Crowd to Newport Pier Area

A line of people stood silently on the beach just south of Newport Pier. They had left behind the bright lights and great whooshing wails of traffic on East Coast Highway. Now, like sentries in the dead of night, they stood watching the water for any signs of life.

Slowly, they began to appear. With an eerie sort of flickering, a tiny white object flapped helplessly on the moonlit beach between the waves. In a minute, there were more. Then more. Soon small, shining fish covered the wet sand like a shimmering silver jacket.

The observers watched in silence a few seconds longer as if to make sure the vision was real. Then, seeming to respond to an inaudible signal, they broke ranks and pounced--buckets and flashlights in hand.

Another grunion run was in progress. The frenzy had begun.

This annual vision in the sand along the coast is one of the rarest on Earth, a sight so unusual that thousands flock to see it each year. Many return disappointed, convinced that they’ve been fooled by their friends, victims in their own minds of the ultimate snipe hunt.

For those who observe it, however, the experience is unforgettable. These are the only fish in the world that spawn on land.

Aside from a few isolated stretches of beach on the Gulf of California, the only place they do it is along the Pacific coast from Southern California to Baja.

The shimmering is actually the gleam of moonlight on the creatures’ underbellies, a silvery fluttering in the surf that has an unearthly quality all its own.

“It’s incredible,” said Bob Gullage, 40, a jeweler from Yorba Linda out for his first grunion run. “When I first heard about this, I thought it was a joke.”

Said David Burton, 49: “I’ve been doing this since I was 12. It takes me back to my childhood.”

The six-inch-long fish begin their mating ritual in early spring and repeat it at two-week intervals through the summer.

Washing onto the beach in droves during peak tides, the females bury their tails to lay their eggs in the sand while the males wrap themselves around the females’ upright bodies to deposit their sperm, or milt.

Once fertilized, the pinhead-size eggs--as many as 3,000 per fish--lay incubating for two weeks. Then, stirred to life by the coming of the next high tide, they hatch into tiny grunion that are washed immediately out to sea to fend for themselves.

The early American Indians knew of the fish, making reference to a small creature that made a “grunting” sound while on the beach.

Some naturalists have also described the sound, attributing it to the egg-laying females. The word grunion, in fact, is Spanish for “grunter” and was probably first applied around the time of Leo Cabrillo, a Spanish explorer who mentioned the fish in his ship’s logs.

It is also likely that grunions’ tastiness was not lost on the early Indians, who are believed to have had seasonal late-night grunion catches ending in communal feasts on the beach.

Many of today’s grunion lovers say they are similarly motivated.

While the grunion appear intermittently at various points along the coast, the stretch of beach near Newport Pier is a favorite gathering point for Orange County grunion hunters desirous of easy access. Once there, they huddle on their blankets clutching flashlights and pails, waiting expectantly for the frenzy to begin.

Until 1927, it was open season on grunion. Then, discovering that farmers were using nets to catch huge piles of the tiny fish for use as fertilizer, authorities imposed restrictions. Today it is illegal to collect grunion at any time except during the summer, and then only by hand.

That’s where the fun comes in, experienced hunters assert.

“They’re squirmy little critters,” said Linda Gryce, 27, of Huntington Beach. “They’re a challenge to catch.”

Mark Newman, 26, agreed. “You gotta get wet and dirty,” he said. “There’s no other way.”

Indeed, lots of people were getting wet and dirty in the hours after midnight recently near Newport Pier.

Shining lights on the sand, they scanned the beach for their silvery prey, then tried to out-scramble each other in tromping through ankle-deep mud to grab the critters and pop them into pails.

Marine biologists say it is impossible to predict exactly where the grunion will run. While every beach in Southern California gets them at one time or another, the fish are easily spooked by lights and crowds.

It was surprising, therefore, that the little fish showed up by Newport Pier, with its diverse crowd ranging from large Vietnamese families to teen-age couples on dates.

Individual catches ranged from a single grunion to as many as 14. While some people said they planned to grab as many as they could, fry them up and throw huge grunion feasts for their friends, others admitted to just being curious.

And indeed, beneath all the competitive fervor lay something beyond mere animal hunger: an almost mystical sense of awe.

“I’ve never seen a grunion before,” said Victoria Nguyen, 22, a student from Westminster. “It was exciting; I’m amazed at how nature can create something like this.”

Over on another part of the beach, meanwhile, several teen-age friends let their awe get in the way of their mission. They’d intended to catch their dinner, said Morgan Price, 17, but the excitement of seeing their first pair of grunion had altered that outcome.

“It was really neat,” Price said. “We huddled around them, pointed at them, then followed them back to the water.”

The problem?

“They were laying their eggs,” he said sheepishly. “We just didn’t feel right about grabbing them while they were mating.”

Hands-On

California law says catching grunion is a task that must be done the old-fashioned way--by hand. So don’t take a net or other trapping tool with you. And you may not dig holes to trap them either. But you may want to bring:

* A pail

* A flashlight

* Warm clothing that you don’t mind getting wet

* A valid California fishing license if you are older than 16

Going for Grunion

During July and August, there will be 16 nights when grunion will run at beaches in Orange County. The second hour is usually better than the first, and the best runs usually take place on the second and third nights of a four-night schedule. Here’s when the grunion getting should be good: July / Best Time 2 / 11:20 p.m.-1:20 a.m. 3 / 12:10-2:10 a.m.* 4 / 1:15-3:15 a.m.* 5 / 2:25-4:25 a.m.* 16 / 10:40 p.m.-12:40 a.m. 17 / 11:15 p.m.-1:15 a.m. 18 / 11:50 p.m.-1:50 a.m. 19 / 12:25-2:25 a.m.* 31 / 11:10 p.m.-1:10 a.m. August / Best Time 1 / Midnight-2 a.m. 2 / 1-3 a.m.* 3 / 2:15-4:15 a.m.* 15 / 10:55 p.m.-12:55 a.m. 16 / 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. 17 / 12:10-1:10 a.m.* 18 / 12:55-2:55 a.m.* * Date of the previous evening is shown.

Grunion Biology

Name: Leuresthes tenuis

Relatives: Jacksmelt and topsmelt

Size: About six inches long

Description: Greenish, with a silver-blue side stripe and bluish blotch on cheek

Range: Point Conception, Calif., to Point Abreojos, Baja California

Spawning months: March through August

Life span: Three years

How to Cook It

Grunion, like sand dabs, cook quickly and are easily overdone.

* Place cleaned fish in a lightly greased, shallow baking pan. Dot with butter.

* Place pan on top rack of oven preheated to 350 degrees.

* Cook fish about five minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with fresh lemon.

If you like wine flavors, pour a good white wine into the pan after you have removed the fish and let it bubble for a few seconds while scraping the bottom with a spoon. Pour this sauce over the fish when it’s served, or bring it to the table in a bowl for individual servings.

Source: California Department of Fish and Game