There are hundreds (thousands?) of these creatures, apparently dead, on the beach.  Never saw them until the last few days.  I’m not sure how I knew they were skates, but I looked up “blue skate” and that’s what they are.  They usually have a tail-like appendage, but none of these washed-up ones do.  The blue is very vivid; the diagonal clear part looks like plastic wrap.   Indeed, we saw some of the clear parts without the blue base and thought at first that they were discarded/stray pieces of plastic wrap.  I wonder if global warming has affected their food supply as it has the supply for the sea lions.  Sad.  Perhaps tragic.  The bell tolls for thee…