Sardine-shaped fish

• California food fish
• California fish
• Fish that spawns at high tide

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1917, from American Spanish gruñon "grunting fish," from grunir "to grunt," from Latin grunnire , from Greek gryzein "to grunt," from gry "a grunt." The unrelated American fish called the grunt is "so called from the noise they make when taken."

Wikipedia Word definitions in Wikipedia
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 Atherinopsidae family of New World silversides , found only off the coast of California ...

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. Either of two small fish, of the genus (taxlink Leuresthes genus noshow=1), found along the coast of Mexico and southern California, that spawn in the wet sand at certain high tides.