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Hakai Magazine is all about the coast, but other outlets sometimes share our fascination. Every week on Strand we round up our favorite coastal stories from around the web.

A little fish with big impact in trouble on US west coast

by Elizabeth Grossman for Yale Environment 360

“The impacts of the current Pacific sardine collapse are rippling through the marine ecosystem. Sardines, anchovies, herring, and other forage fish are enormously important to ocean ecosystems, playing a key role in moving food at the bottom of the food web to the top. Along the Pacific Coast, where they ply the waters of the California Current, from southern British Columbia to Baja California, sardines and anchovies are essential prey for salmon, tuna, whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and other species.”

Polar bears eat dolphins as Arctic warms

by Agence France-Presse

“In the photos a visibly skinny old male bear devours one of the dolphins and appeared to have stored a second one under snow for later—something which scientist had never seen before.”

Isn’t this octopus adorabilis?

By Science Friday

Why this blue whale’s massive heart is being blown up like a beach ball

by Matthew Braga for Motherboard

“If you ever find yourself in the possession of a massive, frozen whale heart, here are some tips: don’t thaw it out too quickly, don’t inflate it too fast, and definitely don’t forget your arsenal of toilet plungers and Pepsi cans you’ll need to plug all the arteries up.”

Red crabs blanket Orange County beaches

by Cindy Yamanaka for The Orange County Register

“Experts said the crabs—which are about 1 to 3 inches long, too small to make for good eating—haven’t been seen in the area for decades. It’s the warm water that has brought them here; they normally live in Baja California.

The pelagic crabs are the latest in a year of odd sightings along the coast, with experts crediting warm water that has lingered off Southern California for the past year.”

Three simple rules for eating seafood

by Paul Greenberg for The New York Times

“Eat American seafood.

A much greater variety than we currently do.

Mostly farmed filter feeders.

Some explanations are in order.”