Unknown Mystery Creatures Washing Ashore in Hawaii by the Millions

Somebody please change the title of this thread to "New crab species washes ashore in Hawaii". The blatant sensationalism is really sad.

reply to post by Phage


Thank you for the explanation, as that makes sense that they are too small to identify. I know that marine biologists know what crab larvae look like. Someone already kind of mentioned this, that the media likes to exaggerate and mystery creature sounds so much more exciting, than a crab that is still to small to identify.

It is always interesting when marine life shows up in new places or at a different time than usual, so I am glad that I saw this thread.

And yes. Crab. Yummy.

These reminded me of the horseshoe crab larvae I'd see on rare occasions as I grew up spending time at the Chesapeake Bay. Here's some info on them here www.dnr.state.md.us...

I don't know about the purple hue of these larvae but the shape reminded me of the horseshoe crabs. I'm not familiar with the other species mentioned in this thread so it will be fun looking them up. It's a shame all these babies got washed up where they are not native and likely will die.

Originally posted by detachedindividual
reply to post by Human_Alien

 

First, I would say don't worry about feeling as though the planet is strange to you. There are many reasons why all these little things are happening...
1. We are more connected now than ever before, what would have been a local legend fifty years ago spreads around the world within hours. Strange things have always happened, there was just never such a big audience before.
2. There is no doubt that environmental changes are altering things, but this is evolution - whether we are responsible or not. These could have arrived on an altered current from a spawning site for a species we haven't really seen that much of before.
3. Interest in a story drives the corporate media. They lie all the time, the exaggerate, they fabricate and they obscure the truth, all for ratings and profit. Notice she said "no one we spoke to knew what they were"? Perhaps they deliberately only spoke to the pool cleaners or security and decided not to go and talk to the 80 year old professor of biology because they feared he'd destroy the mystery?

It's an interesting story, and being an aquatics hobbyist I would be setting up a tank to see if I could raise a few of these to adulthood too. I would love to see what they turn out to be.

And of course, we should remember that you can find a new species in your own garden if you study a single square foot for a few weeks or months. The oceans are nowhere near as explored as land, which means there are potentially millions of unknown species out there waiting to be discovered.

Very astute observation and you may be correct. The problem is, we have nothing to gauge these events to. Our 6-billion+ year history pretty much vanished and we have a bunch of people in white smocks, guessing.

So maybe, like you said, these are common events and the news just didn't reach us back then. But then again..... maybe it's not common at all. Maybe something huge is happening to our planet.

See?.....this can go to two extremes.

reply to post by Human_Alien


I found it odd that the sand crabs don't want anything to do with them. Is that normal?
Also maybe it's just me, but if you see something and have no idea what it is, I don't think I'd want to be picking it up and letting it crawl around on my bare hand.

Coconut crabs?



Those guys get big.

Originally posted by Ear-Responsible
Fukushima crabs.

Repeat, SMH what it looks like from below. Radiation causing genetic mixing/ALTERING.

Originally posted by Chance321
Also maybe it's just me, but if you see something and have no idea what it is, I don't think I'd want to be picking it up and letting it crawl around on my bare hand.

Wasn't there just a bunch of penguins washing up dead along the shores of Hawaii??? I'm sure I just read that somewhere. Going to see if I can find it.

Sorry, wasn't Hawaii it was Brazil. 500+ penguins washed ashore in Southern Brazil on the beaches of Rio Grande Do Sul over the last week. Earthquake coming perhaps?.

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13

Originally posted by Ear-Responsible
Fukushima crabs.

Repeat, SMH what it looks like from below. Radiation causing genetic mixing/ALTERING.

Originally posted by Chance321
Also maybe it's just me, but if you see something and have no idea what it is, I don't think I'd want to be picking it up and letting it crawl around on my bare hand.

edit on 7/17/12 by Ophiuchus 13 because: (no reason given)

Radiation does not do this. Hollywood made us think that we get superpowers but we just die.

reply to post by Human_Alien

I always felt Hawaiians are very aware of their surroundings when dealing with nature and this doesn't appear to be a common occurrence.

Obviously you've never been here. People here don't give a crap about their environment. I'm gonna go try to find some of these crabs and take pictures.

We seek to promote discussion and debate in way that pushes the discussion in a positive way. Your post was so far off-topic, after our staff has announced that discussion must remain on-topic, that we had no choice but to remove it.

Seriously! My post had something like 5 stars, and it was vaguely relevant! Someone's going way over the top removing posts here, or seriously lacking a sense of humour. Or only capable of interacting through the medium of warnings.

reply to post by SoulSearching8


Penguins washing up dead is from exhaustion and exposure. They get caught up in currents and get swept out to sea and end up in Brazil sometimes. I forget why they get separated from their main group like that. Anyway it's not from radiation or poisoning that they turn up dead, if anyone was worried about that regarding penguins. Some actually make it alive and are rescued.

Crab larvae apparently usually frequent the shallow areas so they need to take a look at the source of the currents in that area and see if they lead to some shallows that can be investigated as the normal and usual habitat for these little guys. I am surprised the regional experts are stumped so just how far off course were these larvae dragged and why? Storms?

I have never seen this kind of occurance in hawaii in all of my 29 years of life. Im a man of the ocean who surfs, dives, fishes, and swims in the ocean almost every day. This is not normal. Biologists say a storm/ south swells/ currents etc.... were probably the cause for the occurance. Well we normally have bigger south swells, stronger currents and winds, and stronger seasonal storms every summer than the one being blamed for causing this. Poor excuse by the biologists. FYI....RIMPAC exercises are currently ongoing in Hawaii.....possible cause? Or radioactive seawater?

reply to post by Omilu

Well let's knock that 29 years down a bit. Not sure how aware you were when you were 8 or 9 years old. That makes it more like 20 years or less.

It happens.

"I don't think it's that common but ever so often when conditions are right these animals really start coming in," says Chan.

www.khon2.com...

I don't know why a large hatch could be blamed on RIMPAC (or radioactive water). Remember the aweoweo swarm a few years back? Not common but it happens.

Geepers, you'd think someone would call out the alarm before it was too late and gather a crowd to go down to the beaches and save humanity and destroy these invaders before they had a chance to establish a threat. It might already be too late.... Last I heard there were millions and they seemed unstoppable............ are we doomed? Maybe we should of killed them when we had a chance....... oh my god.

The Challenge is on to figure out what may have caused them to explode like this...

I posted some pics for those who didn't get to watch the video...

Ya, I'm pretty sure these are alien babies...The invasion has apparently begun! They are kind of cute in my opinion. I would get one for a pet, but I don't know what they eat...And I would be afraid it would grow into a big alien overnight and eat me while I sleep.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Omilu

 

Well let's knock that 29 years down a bit. Not sure how aware you were when you were 8 or 9 years old. That makes it more like 20 years or less.

It happens.

"I don't think it's that common but ever so often when conditions are right these animals really start coming in," says Chan.

www.khon2.com...

I don't know why a large hatch could be blamed on RIMPAC (or radioactive water). Remember the aweoweo swarm a few years back? Not common but it happens.

When was the last time millions of a species washed up on shore?

reply to post by PacificBlue


Thanks for the update on what crabs they are ;-p

I was going to say the great oceanic plastic rubbish tip nearby had finally evolved into living entities!