Hundreds of dead Humboldt squid mysteriously washed up on beaches along Rio del Mar Sunday.
They have been rarely sighted onshore here, but the normally southern dwelling invertebrates, which move in shoals of 1,200, have moved northward since 1997.
Here's a National Geographic story about a similar occurrence in San Diego in 2009.
Scientist William Gilly told the Santa Cruz Sentinel that such beachings are a natural occurence when young species migrate. Before 1997 the carnivorous squid, nicknamed "red devil" squid, were mostly found south of the Equater.
Thanks Scott Jarrett for notifying Patch.
