In June they move inshore to breed in swarms on the beaches, chiefly in Newfoundland, where they pack into schools dense enough to slow a power boat. They live in sex-segregated herds, and the two sexes meet only on the beach. Two males capture a female between them on a falling tide, and hustle her up through the breakers to the sand. She releases ova while the males cloud the water with milt. Then most of them die.
People net the capelin on the shore by the hundreds and thousands.
The capelin constitute an enormous annual gift from the sea. No, just to look. Lived all me life on Isle Madame, and I never seen the capelin come ashore. But the image of the silent watchers on the beach will linger. I have been here more than 25 years, and my island is still unfolding.