Tuna crabs are back!

From the creator

Well well well, look who we have here! Pelagic red crabs are back baby! Also known as tuna crabs, or lobster krill, pelagic red crabs are a species of squat lobster typically found off of Southern and Baja California. This species, Pleuroncodes planipes, was described from a stranding event in Monterey in the 1850s, and were mentioned repeatedly in Steinbeck and Ricketts's Log from the Sea Of Cortez. While the cause of these strandings is ultimately unknown—perhaps the crabs are cold-shocked or have run out of food—their arrival in Monterey Bay typically coincides with an El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event. These warmer El Niño conditions open up the floodgates to southern species to make it past Point Conception, their typical turnaround point in California, and allows these visitors to travel up to the Bay. The last time the tuna crabs were here was during the 2015-16 ENSO, and before that they were spotted in the massive 1982-83 El Niño. This year, NOAA has predicted an approximately 80% chance for El Niño conditions through the winter in the Northern Hemisphere—and if this stranding is any indication, there’s a good chance an ENSO tour bus has dropped off its first batch of southern visitors to Monterey Bay! More info about El Niño this year: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.shtml More on the pelagic red crabs: https://montereybayaquarium.tumblr.com/post/144867754363/guess-whos-back-back-again ____ Whale hello t

Published 2018-11-14 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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