If you were to take a walk along Nye Beach in Newport last week you might have noticed a peculiar sight: the high-water mark was littered with the bright red bodies of what look like miniature lobsters.

The dead crustaceans aren't lobsters, however, they are actually the corpses of pelagic red crabs and, washed up on an Oregon beach, they are far from where they are usually found.

Usually found off the coast of Baja Mexico, the little lobster-like creatures aren't strong swimmers and generally go where the current takes them. During El Nino years, when warm water shoots farther north up the west coast than usual, they have been observed in central and southern California.

Last week's sighting in Newport marks the first time they have been seen this far north, said Jennifer Fisher, of Oregon State University.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that Pelagic Red Crabs have been observed on beaches off Oregon. How these crabs became distributed much farther north than previously reported is a mystery at this time," she wrote in a blog post. "A closer look at the coastal currents might reveal the answers."

Update: After this story was published, Bill Pearcy, Professor Emeritus at Oregon State's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, pointed out that pelagic red crabs have been seen along the Oregon coast before, specifically in the wake of El Nino events.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048