Grunion Grunion Grunion are two fish species of the genus Leuresthes: the California grunion, "L. tenuis", and the Gulf grunion, "L. sardinas". They are sardine-sized teleost fishes of the New World silverside family Atherinopsidae, found only off the coast of California, USA, and Baja California, Mexico, where the species are found on both the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California coasts. Many people enjoy catching grunion at events called "grunion runs." Grunion are known for their unusual mating ritual wherein at very high tides, the females come up on to sandy beaches where they dig their tails into the sand to
USS Grunion bow. The wreckage then slid two-thirds of a mile down the side of an extinct volcano, coming to rest on a notch in the underwater mountain. USS Grunion USS "Grunion" (SS-216) was a "Gato"-class submarine that was sunk at Kiska, Alaska, during World War II. She was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the grunion. Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut on 1 March 1941. She was launched on 22 December 1941, (sponsored by Mrs. Stanford C. Hooper, wife of Rear Admiral Hooper), and commissioned on 11