Mission Beach
Narrow oceanfront sandbar where silver fish ride the tide ashore to spawn under full and new moons.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Mission Beach in San Diego follows the grunion, small silver fish that ride the tide onto this narrow sandbar in full view of moonlit crowds to spawn, twice a month around the full and new moon. It describes the mating itself, a female burying her tail in the sand while a male, sometimes several, curls around her, and the ten days the buried eggs then wait underground. You'll hear why marine biologists who have studied this ritual for decades still cannot answer the most basic question about where these fish spend the rest of their lives. Come after dark during a spring run and watch the sand itself start to shiver.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
la Jolla Shores Beach
Sheltered cove beach beside a research pier, where thousands of pregnant leopard sharks gather each summer.
Point Loma Tide Pools
Rocky intertidal shoreline of octopus, urchins and anemones exposed at low tide beneath sea cliffs.
Birch Aquarium
Coastal marine science center with kelp forest tanks, tide pools and rare seadragon breeding exhibits.
La Jolla Cove
Rocky cliff-ringed inlet where hundreds of wild sea lions haul out beside a protected marine reserve.
Silver Strand State Beach
Narrow sandspit beach whose grains sparkle with mica carried by ocean current from distant mountains.
Ocean Beach
Long concrete pier over the Pacific, a favorite perch for chasing the elusive green flash at sunset.