More Spiny Lobster Sightings! Have you seen a lobster molt on a beach near you?

Way back in 2011, as part of Coastal Cleanup Day, I did a beach clean up at one of my favorite places in the world, Duxbury Reef, also known as Agate Beach.

Like all things in Bolinas, the beach is equal parts tough to find and magical.

Normally, once down the main path, I head south to the extensive tide pools, but a a beach clean up, is on the beach, not amongst the rocks, and not planned for the lowest tides. In search of trash and something new, I took my bag and headed north instead. My trash haul wasn't impressive. I think I ended up with about a cup full of small plastic and a shotgun shell or two (plastic shot gun shells was down waterways from the delta and are one of the most common types of trash we see on our beaches).

I did find one treasure though, the molt of a California spiny lobster. The furthest north these lobsters are supposed to found is near San Luis Obispo, a good 250 miles to the south!

Sometimes, paying attention along the road less travelled, leads to amazing things.

I couldn't believe it, so I started this project on iNaturalist to encourage and aggregate finds.

Since that day four years ago, I have found molts on Agate Beach every year, had reports from San Francisco and San Mateo counties, and heard many anecdotes detailing places people have seen them alive.
In order to properly document this potential range extension, we need more data and live specimens.

And then this weekend, I read about a live lobster found in Lake Merritt (!) and live lobster begin caught off the coast of San Francisco!

http://www.sfgate.com/outdoors/article/Unusual-critters-from-far-away-sighted-in-Bay-Area-6662345.php

If you are walking on the beach ANYWHERE in California, especially north of San Luis Obispo, keep your eyes peeled for the brick-red 'shells' of these lobsters, snap a photo, and upload it here.

Thanks!

Posted on December 1, 2015 12:09 AM by rebeccafay