Many of us were fond of guessing games when we were kids, the kind that listed a few outlandish ideas and then challenged us, the guesser, to choose which outlandish suggestion was not true.
So what if you heard that nearly frozen ocean waves had been spotted in Nantucket, that bright points of light had been spied on a Jupiter moon, and fish were about to wriggle onto land? Which one is the leg-puller?
None of 'em, in fact. They're all true — you heard about the Slurpee waves and Ceres in recent days — and grunion, a type of silversides fish, have been wriggling onto the beaches of Southern California to spawn long before there were Slurpees, guessing games, and probes poking around the far corners of space.
Maybe it is one of those things that has to be seen to be believed, so see it already. Cabrillo Marine Aquarium makes it quite easy, and informative, for those who want to ponder this wet, straight-from-the-waves wonder from the vantage point of an actual beach.
That beach is in San Pedro, the grunion run is on for a handful of nights over the warmer months, and much is dependent on the moon and tides (another duo that's been around long before guessing games became a fad). Night one for the grunion to call upon our shores will be Saturday, March 7, the final night will be Friday, July 17, and there are six nights between the two, including a full-on Grunion Fish-tival on Tuesday, May 19.
The aquarium hosts an educational program in its auditorium each grunion night before leading excited fish fans down to the beach (flashlights and warm clothing are two very good ideas, so go put those out right now, whatever night you choose to go, so you don't forget).
"Cabrillo Beach is one of the better places to observe the fish," says the aquarium, so count yourself lucky if you're in shouting distance of San Pedro or anywhere within Southern California, really. It's an extraordinary sight, one that could even be thought not-true, when presented within the confines of a guessing game.
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But true it is, a marvel of the moon and the tides, and all of those grunion are so very polite. We mean, they don't even seem to mind we curious humans peeking in on their timeless, truly astonishing ritual.
Fish on land ... whodathunk? (Well, the fish always thunk, for starters.)
