The rare, unexplained sudden appearance of thousands of pea-sized purple crabs washing up on Oahu’s south shore has piqued the interest of editors at Huffington Post:

Researchers are perplexed by them and long-time residents of Hawaii have never seen anything like it before. 

… State wildlife experts told Hawaii News Now that the crabs may be washing up after rough seas left air bubbles in their shells, which prevented them from diving.

Though experts at the Waikiki Aquarium are speculating that they are likely 7-11 crabs — a species common to Hawaii — in larvae stages, they claim this particular event has never been seen before. This species can grow up to seven inches long.

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