Masses of small red tuna crabs washed up along the southern California shoreline in June, according to local media reports. The striking sight may be the result of warm water carrying the crustaceans from their usual home along the west coast of Baja California and the Gulf of California, according to Linsey Sala, a museum scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.
Jim Grant/CNN iReport
The species, proper name Pleuroncodes planipes, is unique in that it can live its entire life cycle, from larva to adulthood, in the water column from surface to seafloor, Sala said.
Jim Grant/CNN iReport
"Typically such strandings of these species in large numbers are due to warm water intrusions," said Sala.
Jim Grant/CNN iReport
"The sand was sprinkled with red for as far as you could see," said San Diego resident Jim Grant, who took these photos.
JIM GRANT/CNN iReport
People were fascinated, said the freelance photographer. He spotted some folks picking up live crabs and taking them home to cook. While the crabs are pretty to look at, experts warn against eating them because they could contain unknown toxins.
