Since the beginning of this year, strange things have been happening in nature. From birds falling off the sky to dolphins found dead on Peruvian beaches.

Photo by Susan Scott, 2012 Hawaii News Now

In Hawaii this week, strange purple little creatures have been found washed ashore along sandy beaches. They’ve been getting reports of the pea-sized crabs from Kahala to Ala Moana.

Beach goers describe it like little purple berries that look good enough to eat. Of the thousands of little purple crabs washed up in the surf, many of them are dead. Some that are alive are being kept to study at Waikiki Aquarium.

Norton Chan, a biologist at Waikiki Aquarium think they are some type of crabs still in the larvae stage. Scientist still aren’t sure what type of crab since they’ve never seen anything like it. Waikiki Aquarium officials are saving some and hoping to keep them alive long enough to see how they grow. Maybe they will grow to be big purple crabs.

And exactly what caused them to wash ashore is a mystery. Dr. Andrew Rossiter, director of thinks it “Could be storms although we haven’t had any, it could be a flux of warm or cold water coming in but I don’t have any signs of that either. It could be some kind of pollution, but if it was pollution it would have affected other species as well. So we really don’t know,”

Another possible reason, a biologist with the Department of Land and Natural Resources speculates that when the seas get rough, air bubbles can get caught in the crab’s carapace (shell) and they cannot dive so they get caught in the tides and wash up on shore.

Poor little baby crabs, makes me wonder if this has anything to do with last year’s nuclear disaster in Japan. Whatever the reason, it goes to show we have to take good care of our ocean. There are many neat life forms and gems that we have yet to come across. So let’s hope we can keep it clean and pristine.

We didn’t get to see the “Ring of Fire” in our area. Instead we saw a partial eclipse.

What I found more interesting then the eclipse was the type of sunlight being cast. The usual brightness of the sun was now replaced by twilight.

The moon is moving across the sun. You can’t see this unless you have special glasses. I took this photo with safety filter.

Along the brick walls were these crescent images made by the tree.

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This Sunday, May 2oth, many of us in the western parts of the U.S. will witness a solar eclipse. This is where the moon will pass between the Earth and the sun. Some will see an annular eclipse and others, such as our area, will see a partial eclipse.

Photograph from ChinaFotoPress, Getty Images

Annular eclipse also called “ring of fire” eclipse happens when the moon will appear to cross into the center of the sun. Thus blocking almost all the light except for the sun’s outer fringes. The outside fringe creates a burning ring.

The eclipse will begin on the west coast of the United States at 6:30 p.m. PDT (Pacific Daylight time) on May 20. It travels from west to east. For those living in some areas of western U.S. (North-eastern California) and Asia will be able to see the annular eclipse.

But don’t just look up with your naked eye. Nasa cautions, “The Sun can be viewed safely with the naked eye only during the few brief seconds or minutes of a total solar eclipse. Even when 99% of the Sun’s surface is obscured during the partial phases of a total eclipse, the remaining photospheric crescent is intensely bright and cannot be viewed safely without eye protection.”

So don’t attempt to observe the partial or annular phases of any eclipse with the naked eye. Failure to use appropriate filtration may result in permanent eye damage or blindness!

A safe way to view it is with a Pinhole Projector. Another simple way is to use your own hands. Hold up both hands with your fingers overlapping at right angles. The holes between your fingers make pinholes.

Or if you have some shade trees, try looking at the images of the sun coming through the holes formed by the leaves.  I’ll see if I can look at the images made by the shady tree this Sunday.

Science 101: What are eclipses and what makes them happen? Read more here.