Big Pacific

(sonar beeps) -

Narrator

It begins as a tide rushing toward the shoreline high in the Gulf of California. Squadrons of pelicans search for the invaders. Gulls and terns join the reception committee. And here they come, thousands of silvery bodies glinting under the Mexican sun. The grunion run, one of nature's grandest spectacles, an explosion of life and death. No other fish spawns so boldly. The grunion run happens every few weeks across spring and summer. Females make land fall first, surfing under the wet sand to deposit their eggs. To avoid being washed back to sea, they dig their tails in and make a stand. It's a feast for the taking. Out of water they can't breathe. They have only moments to replicate or suffocate. The males arrive on the next wave, coiling themselves around half buried females using them as anchors while they release sperm onto the eggs, a tidal wave of reproduction. (dramatic music) Then as quickly as it appears, the phenomenon vanishes. The golden eggs of the grunion remain, protected in the cool, damp sand. Weeks from now countless eggs will hatch and the next wave will wash the fry into the sea. It's nature's reward for the most brazen act of procreation in the ocean. Fortune may favor the bold but in the big Pacific passion is the key to survival.