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Blue whale underwater topside | Ocean Sunfish | Pelagic Crabs | Zooplankton 1, 2 | Mammals | Open Ocean | Home
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| Pelagic crabs, Pleuroncodes planipes, also known as tuna crabs, are in a family of their own. Resembling small lobsters, these small ocean travelers survive on plankton collected in micro-hairs on their legs. |
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| Every six to ten years, warm southern currents distribute these animals as far north as the California coast. Many are stranded on the shore by wind and currents, not by choice as some have surmised. In Baja California, their bodies have been known to form windrows up to three feet deep. They are a significant source of food for blue whales and other baleen whales |  |
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