Thick red crab carpet awaits death on California beach

Red crabs wait to die forming a thick carpet covering the coast of Orange County in California, USA, many places where the crabs are nearly ten centimeters high when the tide is strong.

The International Business Times reported on May 16 that thousands of stranded red crabs formed a wave of landings on southern California beaches. The tiny red crabs living near the sea, also known as tuna crab (Pleuroncodes planipes) are located on the shores of Orange County, stretching from Huntington Beach to Laguna.

The crab ran aground, covering California, USA, the second year in a row.(Photo: WPTV).

"This is an invasion. Some places are 7.6cm high when the tide is high. They piled up everywhere on the beach," said Gary Conwell, captain of the rescue team at Newport Beach. said.

The beaches are still open because authorities insist they are not dangerous to the people. Red crabs sometimes appear in large quantities on the beach, but this phenomenon tends to occur more frequently. Some scientists believe that stranded red crab results from rising sea temperatures due to global warming.

This is the second year in a row that red crabs cover California beaches. Local sanitation workers are planning to use trucks to relocate crabs. However, some beaches are in the reserve and they are not allowed to touch the crabs.

"We are in the marine reserve. We can't do much. The cleanup of the crabs depends on nature," said Lieutenant Kai Bond from Laguna Beach Rescue Team.