Run on Grunion Classes to Begin

Every full moon and new moon evening when the tides are highest, through mid-July, the grunion will come ashore for their annual mating ritual.

On many nights that the small fish are expected to arrive, the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium will conduct Meet the Grunion programs to educate visitors about these elusive creatures. On Sunday, and on March 30, the aquarium will open at 8 p.m. for participants to view a film about the grunion, followed by a walk to the beach with aquarium staff at 9 p.m. to observe them.

Grunion, usually five to seven inches long, are among the few species of fish that come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches. Cabrillo Beach is one of the better places to observe them.

The aquarium will have programs throughout the season. Call (310) 548-7562.

ASTRONOMY

* “The ABCs of Star Formation” will be the topic of the Earnest C. Watson Caltech Lecture given by Geoffrey A. Blake, associate professor of cosmochemistry, Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the Beckman Auditorium on campus. Call (818) 395-4652.

* Bryan Penprase, director of observatories at Pomona College, will present “Springtime for the Universe,” a planetarium program tonight at 8 in the Millikan Planetarium on campus, followed by sky viewing at the Frank P. Brackett Observatory, weather permitting. Call (909) 621-8724.

* The Los Angeles Astronomical Society will be hosting a star party at its Lockwood Valley site Saturday evening. The society’s general meeting next Monday at 7:45 p.m. at the Griffith Observatory will feature Tom Cave speaking on antique telescopes. Call (213) 727-7909.

* Does a mysterious Planet X lie beyond Pluto? This question and the secrets of Pluto will be examined in “The Search for Planet X,” the Santa Monica College astronomy program on Friday and March 18 at 8 p.m. in Room 105 of the Business Building. It follows the weekly Night Sky Show at 7 p.m. Call (310) 452-9396.

ENVIRONMENT

* Birute Galdikas, a Louis Leakey protege who has spent more than 20 years studying orangutans in the forests of Borneo, will discuss “Saving the Orangutans and the Rain Forest” in a lecture sponsored by the Institute of Human Origins and the Orangutan Foundation at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium on Thursday at 8 p.m. Call (818) 395-4652 or (800) 423-8849.

* Friends of Newport Bay will introduce small groups to the four plant communities and wildlife habitats in the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve in “Walking Tours of the Back Bay” on Saturday. Tours will begin every 10 minutes from 9 a.m. until 10:15 a.m. Call (714) 646-8009.

* Visitors to the Palm Springs area can view fire recovery in a riparian forest in an outing to Big Morongo Canyon led by Palm Springs Desert Museum staff members Friday at 9 a.m. Participants should be prepared for muddy conditions. Call (619) 325-7186.

* Ecological historian William Cronon will discuss the connections between humans and the environment in “Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and Its Hinterlands,” tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Whittier College Ettinger Faculty Center. Call (310) 907-4200.

BOTANY

* Capt. Don Pierpont, vegetation manager for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, will discuss the Calabasas/Malibu fire, which burned 17,000 acres in the fall, at the meeting of the California Native Plant Society Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains chapter tonight at 7:30 in the Brentwood Magnet School Auditorium. Call (213) 933-8993.

* The many uses of local plants, such as for shelter, food and tools, will be the focus of the introductory class, “Plant Uses,” offered by Earth Skills, a tracking, nature and wilderness skills organization, Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for teen-agers and adults. Call (310) 833-4249.

SCIENCE POLICY

* An “Evolution vs. Creation Debate” will be undertaken by Michael Shermer, director of the Skeptics Society, and Duane T. Gish, of the Institute for Creation Research, on Thursday at 7 p.m. in UCLA’s Rolfe Hall, Room 1200. Call (818) 794-3119 or (310) 432-6195.