Event 3: Cabrillo Aquarium Grunion Fishtival

 Event 3: Cabrillo Aquarium Grunion Fishtival

Confirmation: 

                                                       (me on the right, employee on the very left lead in hatching grunion!)

June 9, 2024

I attended the “Grunion Fishtival” at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium for my third event. In my opinion, it’s a perfect intersection of science, art, and entertainment. Grunion are a type of fish that flood the shores of beaches from Southern California to Baja California as they lay and fertilize eggs out of the water. Grunion only mate in the 2-4 days following the new or full moon, and come out of the water 30-60 minutes after high tide. Scientists still don’t fully understand this phenomenon of grunion mating at such specific times, and we don’t know where they return in the ocean after beaching themselves. The video I took below shows the female grunion flop out of the hole she made in the sand, and then shows the orange eggs the fish left behind. (I included a youtube link in case my upload doesn't work)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LAktM1R4AiA

The event was held at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, and for the first year was a collaboration with KCRW’s Summer Nights events. This collaboration facilitates a more artistic side of the event as KCRW is a radio station and brings along marine artists to the event. There were about 8 booths around the event that had art and activities. Some artists were focused strictly on visuals, while others used their pieces to teach about grunion and their place in the worlds environment. One way that the aquarium gets people excited about the science of grunion is by making different pins that guests can collect throughout the event! Artists at the aquarium design the pins, and guests have to travel to different educational stations to get each pin. There were also t-shirts, prints, and jewelry all inspired by grunion. On top of all the grunion-themed art, there are also many activities to take part in. You can hatch your own grunion eggs, take photos with grunion cutouts, and color educational grunion coloring pages!

Overall, the Cabrillo Aquarium Grunion Fishtival is an interactive and encapsulating event that teaches marine science through art. I valued seeing this method of connecting art and science because it felt different from others during this course. While many intersections between art and science are how science can be used in art (nanotechnology, medicine, etc), this event shows how art can be intertwined with biological sciences in order to educate and excite people.