CALIFORNIA: When the Grunion Run

When the summer moon is full and the tide is high, the grunion run in Southern California. The grunion (rhymes with bunion) are small (6-in.), smelt-like fish. Unique among marine life, they ride the surf onto sandy beaches, there to spawn and quickly go away again. The female dances on her tail, drilling a hole into the sand for her eggs, while the male flops wildly about her. The next full breaker covers the roe with sand, washes the grunion back to sea.

Last week the grunion were running in full flow, and Southern Californians, as usual, were there to greet and catch them. Tide and moon tables were posted on the desk of many a businessman. On proper nights, autos jammed the highway from Malibu to Santa Monica; beach fires crackled from Long Beach to San Diego. As usual, some of the grunion hunters cuddled in the shadows, glad to forget the original purpose of their parties. But those who kept their minds on grunion splashed madly through the surf, snagging the slippery fish with their bare hands (nets are illegal). Since the tide often reaches its peak about midnight, grunion parties usually run late and long. Some end in a rousing pre-dawn fish fry.

Most notable grunioneer was hefty, fun-loving Governor Earl Warren, vacationing with his family at Santa Monica. He became an uninhibited thrasher in the surf, risked undignified dunkings groping for grunion. But for all his delighted flopping-about he caught only two. His ten-year-old son, Bobby, got 75.