I remember how, from a distance, the beaches at Catalina Island appeared to be BRIGHT red.

Only when you got close enough could you see it was actually a gazillion small, scrambling pelagic red crabs -- make that small, scrambling DELICIOUS pelagic red crrabs.

It looked like this pic taken in Australia (h/t photographer Phillip Colla, oceanlight.com):

Nudibranch is just a better name for "sea slug."

My kid's "animal alphabet"--some Australian singer made it--had "N is for nudbranch!"

Wanna visit?

his name is bob.

Pretty common animal, native to Pacific coast,ranges from far northern California to Baja; and used in neurobiology research.
A little weird to see them in SF Bay-- ordinarily, SF Bay is slightly reduced in salinity, and I think of them as rocky-shore, open-ocean type critters.
So maybe this is about the drought.Because of drought, SF Bay hasn't been getting as much fresh-water input, and salinity is probably closer to regular -ocean salinity than usual. Which means that "regular" marine critters would start to establish themselves in SF Bay, not just the outer ocean coast.

Fun to watch them munching on seaweed: they kind of remind me of sheep (OK, purple slimy sheep)

Water goes in and out of the lake with the tides, and by definition, it's now a tidal lagoon again.

That and the zoo were favorite haunts of mine back in the day. I had no idea...I imagine it changed the whole nature of the place, or am I wrong?

Thanks Bro Buzz

albeit slowly. With a little more human help, Mother Nature will complete the job; early reports indicate oysters (the canary in the coal mine) have returned in small numbers.

the beach at night barefooted and stepping on one of these. Yickes!

and have also seen the blue jellyfish like things that were washing ashore last summer. My friend called them "alien capsules."

One of the strangest things I've seen on a beach was a mass stranding of by-the-wind-sailors. They looked like melted mussels.

these sea slugs are huge - wonder how many plants they eat in a day?

Important questions are unanswered and readers are left wondering.

" Police say a man in Bellevue, Ohio was caught on tape having sex with a picnic table."

http://www.fox19.com/story/8083860/ohio-man-facing-charges-for-having-sex-with-a-picnic-table

starting around last June.

even without an El Nino, this was the case.

they cooled to near normal for April and May, but interestingly enough, at the end of may have been hovering around 60F, when normally they are in the low 50's.

it's not just the warmer ocean to consider, but the cause, a lack of upwelling of cold, deep ocean water to the surface, which cools our coastline considerably.

this upwelling not only cools the ocean, but it brings nutrient rich waters from the deep.

a lack of this stuff is worth exploring the effects of.