Grunion

The grunion is a small fish that is found on the California coast between around Morro Bay to partway down the Baja peninsula. Its spawning habits, like those of anadromous fishes, have made it prey to humans. The grunion comes ashore at high tide—in southern California always at night—in schools of males and females during the full and new moons. The females open a place in soft, watery sand and lay eggs. The males, finding a female doing so, wind themselves around the female and supply milt to fertilize the eggs. When they are done, the fish flop themselves back into the water, leaving the eggs to hatch and wash out to sea in a high tide about ten days later.