#galatheoidea

Two squat lobsters (Galathea squamifera) in a rock pool at West Runton, north Norfolk. The crustaceans are closely related to hermit crabs and swim or scuttle backwards when disturbed.

Photograph: Rupert Higgins

Red crabs swarm Southern California, linked to ‘warm blob’ in Pacific

Red crabs, by the thousands, have invaded Southern California beaches, washing ashore from San Diego to Newport Beach. Sea surface temperatures some 4-7 degrees warmer than normal, possibly connected to a radical change in a Pacific ocean weather pattern, are likely driving the crabs northward away from their typical habitat....

The crabs, resembling miniature lobsters too small to eat, are known as tuna crabs or pelagic red crabs. “Typically such strandings of these species in large numbers are due to warm water intrusions,” said Linsey Sala of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.

The crustaceans usually inhabit the west coast of Baja California, the Gulf of California, and the California Current (spanning from offshore the U.S. West coast down to southern Baja California), a Scripps news release said.

Squat Lobster | Galatheoidea