SAN ONOFRE STUNNED BY CRAB INVASION

SAN ONOFRE, Ca. -- A 50,000,000-strong swarm of spider crabs gathered off San Onofre this week, covering a stretch of seafloor and likely "scaring the hell" out of local fish, marine scientists said. Museum scientists Dr. Ralph and Julian Puttzle said they filmed the mass gathering, which was up to 20 feet deep in places, with crabs piled 100 high. Spider crabs are about nine inches long with legs extending up to 40 inches. "We got some earlier warning from surfers that they were here en masse, but we had no idea it was going to be so big," Dr. Ralph said. "It was like something out of a science-fiction movie... as far as you could see there were crabs," he said, adding that the crustaceans were "scaring the hell out of local fish". The swarm began gathering early this week but by Thursday was thinning out, he said. "This has been observed elsewhere in the world, like the Mediterranean ... it's not a rare event, but it's rare that you encounter it."