Tiny Tuna Crabs Invade Southern California Beaches

HUNTINGTON BEACH (CBSLA.com/AP) — Southern California's been hit with a crab invasion.

Bright red tuna crabs washed up in the thousands Wednesday at Huntington Beach and Imperial Beach.

The crabs, which are an inch to three inches long and resemble crawfish, normally live off the Baja Peninsula in Mexico but the Orange County Register says a current and lingering warm water from El Nino has pushed them northward in recent years.

Katie Glover, who was visiting, told the Register she got pinched by one.

"It was on my foot," she told the publication. "We were walking, and my little Yorkie ran past it and cried. I think he got pinched by one first."

The same thing happened last June when hundreds of thousands of crabs carpeted the shoreline.

The crabs aren't good for eating. The Register says they have little meat and tend to stink when dead.

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