Unusual Appearance of Tuna Crabs in San Diego Shock Underwater Cinematographer and Experts

Underwater cinematographer Anna Sagatov found a shocking sight during a night dive off San Diego: a seafloor covered in red tuna crabs, pushed to shore by El Niño.

During a routine night dive off La Jolla Shores in San Diego, underwater cinematographer Anna Sagatov was taken aback by a shocking sight in late April. Instead of the usual marine life, she encountered a seafloor that had turned red due to a massive gathering of crabs.

Tuna Crabs near San Diego

Describing the event as an "overlapping carpet of crabs," Sagatov was astonished by the sheer number of creatures swirling and shifting in the current. The sight extended as far as her dive lights could illuminate, marking an unprecedented phenomenon in the area.

The red crustaceans, commonly known as tuna crabs, are actually squat lobsters. Their appearance in the shallows off the coast of San Diego is highly unusual, as their typical habitat is the high seas around Baja California in Mexico. This marks only the second time in six years that they have been sighted in the area.

Experts speculate that nutrient-dense currents triggered by El Niño might have driven these squat lobsters to San Diego's near-shore canyons. El Niño events, characterized by warmer oceans releasing additional heat into the atmosphere, can create variable currents and air pressure fluctuations over the equatorial Pacific, potentially disrupting the creatures' natural habitat.

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