This unique phenomenon only happens along the coast of Southern California and Baja, Mexico. In Spring and Summer for a few nights during the full and new moons, hundreds of shimmering fish come ashore to spawn. To be clear, they don’t actually run - more like slither, but it is thrilling all the same. We’re at the whim of the grunion, so we’ll gather around 10:45 but they may not appear until later, so the end time is uncertain. Part of the discovery!

Our local beach has an abundant grunion population. Venice Oceanarium hosts a fun, interpretive party during grunion season, drawing thousands of curious late-night beach goers. Our founder, Tim Rudnick, is a self-described grunion geek. Check out a video he made during COVID-19, keeping our Grunion Party tradition going.

NOTE: Grunion are protected and require a fishing license to catch. There are also NO HUNTING seasons.