Plural of hatch: an opening in a floor, roof, or wall; or the young animals that emerge from eggs.
From Old English 'hæce' meaning door or gate. The verb 'to hatch' (cause eggs to develop) comes from Old English 'heccan' with unclear ultimate origin.
In biology, when millions of fish hatch simultaneously from a river, it's called a 'hatch'—and mayfly hatches are so synchronized and massive that Native Americans planned meals around them, thousands of years before Europeans arrived.
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