I tried to organize people to go out and watch for grunions last night (30 June), but since the run wasn’t supposed to start until 11:20PM I did not have high hopes.
I, myself, arrived a little early. Partly this is because I usually arrive places early, and partly because you get better pictures of the moon on the waves the closer you are to moonrise.
The lights on Stern’s Wharf and the city were also rather nice:
Then I went and sat in the parking lot. No one showed up. I waited another 5 minutes. No one continued to show up.
I went back to the water.
I tried watching the shore without a flashlight, but I found I could not see if there were fish (even with the full moon). The moment I turned the flashlight on I saw them in the waves.
For the first hour or so all I saw were scouts (that is unattached males surfing to the shore to see if there are any females around). I saw one female around midnight, but that was about it. But there were a lot of scouts. Did that mean there’d be an impressive run later?
After I’d been there for about 20 minutes I noticed that most of the other people (and there were about 3 other groups watching) were leaving the beach. I think this is a serious mistake; more often than not the next hour and a half will be far more interesting than the first 20 minutes. People leave thinking they’ve seen a grunion run when all they’ve seen is a scout or two.
After a bit I found a cellphone, left in the damp sand just above the waves, with drops of sea water on it but still working. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but leaving it in the ocean was wrong. I dried it off and put it in my pocket.
About half past twelve I noticed that the grunions in my flashlight beam lighted up with the moon shimmer on the waves:
As I was taking the picture someone bounded up to me and asked if I were a trail runner (I had posted a note in the trail runner group inviting people to join me). His name was Pyry, a researcher from Finland. He knew what Moomintrolls were, but I knew nothing else of Finland. I asked if he had lost a phone, and he had. So that solved that problem.
I explained to Pyry that as yet we hadn’t seen a real run, there had been no females, just males…
When I turned back to the shore it was covered with fish, and the spawning had begun.
But it was the sheer number of fish that was really amazing
I’ve only once before seen comparable numbers, and that was three years ago.
Bouquet of fish
The fish left lots of holes (in which they had laid eggs) just above the wave line. It made walking difficult.
Cal Fish & Game predicts a two hour window during which the run is expected to take place. This run was still going strong 20 minutes after the window had ended, and there were still scouts 35 minutes after (I left then, at 1:55, bedtime).
Video links:
Who can see the gruns?
Neither you nor I.
Wait till the moon is full again,
The gruns will then draw nigh.Who can see the gruns?
Neither he nor me.
But when high tide has turned at last,
Upon the beach they’ll be.Who can see the gruns?
Neither I nor you.
But when the waves come washing in,
We’ll see the gruns pass through.Who has seen the gruns?
Either none or all.
But if the beach were coverèd,
Then we just stood in thrall.
I thought I saw a Banker’s Clerk
Alighting on a dish,
I looked again and found it was
A school of grunion fish,
“If they should come to dine,” I said,
“I’d make a better wish.”
When the moon on the sea
Makes a path to fairy,
There are grunion.When the moon on the bight
Makes a path through the night,
There are grunion.
George's Meanderings 