Thousands of crabs wash up on Balboa Island, California

© Laylan Connelly

Tiny red crabs washed up in Balboa Island in Newport Beach on Saturday, some dead, some alive.

Daniel Stringer had an idea after eying the little lobster-like crustaceans that washed ashore on Balboa Island.

"I'll get the barbeque," said Stringer, who has lived on Balboa Island for 47 years and has never seen the small crabs like the ones that showed up Saturday. "I like mine with butter."

Thousands of mini crabs - which actually look like tiny lobsters or craw fish - created a rim of red along the shoreline, scattered on the sand along the sleepy seaside of Balboa Island in Newport Beach. Most washed up dead at high tide, but some were still alive and swimming near the shoreline.

Passerby stopped to marvel at the unusual sight, some people coming to the aid of the ones that still looked like they had some life to them.

The Pleuroncodes planipes, also known as pelagic red crabs or tuna crabs, showed up during the last king tide event - when tides are especially high - at the end of January.

But then, as quick as they showed up, they disappeared - until Saturday morning, when they came in by the thousands. Another king tide event, which only happens a few times each year, showed up again this week, though its unclear whether the two incidents are related.

Experts say the crabs - which are about 1-to 3-inches long - haven't been seen in the area for decades, and said it's the warm water that has been lingering near 60-degrees that brought them here. They normally life in Baja California, according to archives.

Balboa Island resident Brian Cummings and son Chandler, 9, spent the morning picking them up, one by one, and tossing them back to the sea.

"We try to throw back as many lives ones as we can ... We try and look for the bright red ones to throw them back in the water," Brian Cummings said, picking one up and tossing it into the water, where it simply floated upside down.

When asked if he wanted to eat them up, Chandler looked skeptical.

"They probably don't have any meat on them," he said.

Visitor James Gutierrez, of Pomona, was fascinated by the sight.

"You don't realize how much sea life is out there until you see something like this," he said.

Aaron Roth, 3, had just one word to describe the sight: "Cooool."

Resident Michael Brennan knew all about the crabs, doing as much research as possible after the last ones washed ashore about a month ago.

"They swim backwards," he said to a group gathering near the shore.

The pelagic crabs are the latest in a year of odd sightings along the coast caused by unusual warm water experts say are signs of El Nino. A variety of whales like orcas, sperm and humpback have shown up in high numbers, along with odd sightings like hammerhead sharks and whale sharks in the area.

Other sightings like a glow-in-the-dark organisms called pyrosomes washed ashore in September, and before that a blue, jellyfish-like creatures known as "By-the-wind sailors," invaded the coastline.

A wahoo - normally found in Mexico - was reeled in by fisherman in August, and anglers are still catching yellowtail of the coast, which are usually scarce during this time of year.