Final Update for Grunion Season, 2009

A Message from Karen Martin, Ph.D., Pepperdine Professor of Biology

Greetings to all Grunionistas!

Grunion Flight!
Photo by Donna Stern

As summer comes to a close, so ends the 2009 season for California Grunion. This year was particularly memorable for a lot of big numbers:

• Big runs were seen earlier than usual, in late March, in multiple locations.
• Record numbers of Grunion Greeters volunteered, over 550.
• At least 36 beaches were monitored repeatedly, and more than 50 beaches were monitored at least once over the course of the summer.
• Over 50% of the "Greeter night" runs reported across southern California coast were W-3 or higher, the first time this has happened.
• Greeters reported runs from Ensenada to Tomales Bay, nearly the entire habitat range of the species.
• We received well over 800 reports of grunion runs, the most ever.
• Over 250 people earned their fleece reward, the highest number yet.

Greeter Gathering in La Jolla
Photo by Karen Martin

And finally, two memorable if small numbers,

• In August TWO grunion were seen in Tomales Bay, our most northern population, after great effort. We feared the population had not made it through the past winter. We hope more are present, and we hope they left a new generation for next summer.
• TWO new papers using your data were published in the scientific literature:
  • Johnson, P. B., K. L. Martin, T. L. Vandergon, R. L. Honeycutt, R. S. Burton, and A. Fry. 2009. Microsatellite and mitochondrial genetic comparisons between northern and southern populations of California Grunion Leuresthes tenuis. Copeia 2009: 467-476.
  • Martin, K. L. M., C. L. Moravek, and J. A. Flannery. 2009. Embryonic staging series for the beach spawning, terrestrially incubating California grunion Leuresthes tenuis (Ayres 1860) with comparisons to other Atherinomorpha. Journal of Fish Biology 75: 17-38.

Karen & Jeremiah culturing embryos at Crystal Cove

Thanks to everyone who participated. Special thanks to our workshop hosts, Tijuana Estuarine Research Reserve, Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Buena Vista Audubon Club, Muth Interpretive Center in Newport Beach, Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and Heal The Bay, Pepperdine University, Marine Science Institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and our new Monterey Bay workshop partners at the Pacific Grove Museum. And muchas gracias to the group “Calidad de Vida” in Tijuana for providing reports on Mexican beaches.

We appreciate the funding provided by National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Region, Habitat Conservation Division, along with National Geographic Society, Coastal America Foundation, California Coastal Commission, and National Parks Service.

Finally we all owe a great debt of gratitude to Melissa Studer for keeping this project organized, and to Chris Stivers and Brad Cupp for the web work. Yes, we will be back next year and hope to see you then.

Thanks for making this season one for the record books!

May the fish be with you!
-- Karen

Kjirsten and Jeremiah study the beach profile at Topanga