THESE four tiny crabs drifted more than 3,000 miles across the Atlantic to wash up on our coastline during Storm Imogen.

The cast of crustaceans, named Columbus Crabs, were discovered clinging to a section of a washed up buoy on Brighton beach.

It is believed the critters could have sailed up to 3,699 miles from the Sargasso Sea, which lies between North and South America near Bermuda.

The crabs, which are less than an inch long, were discovered by senior ecologist at the Sussex Wildlife Trust Graeme Lyons.

He said no one has found the little creatures in Sussex before but they have previously been recorded in Kent and Cornwall.

Mr Lyons jokingly named the foursome Little Red, Little Blue, Christopher Columbus's Ghost and Weetabix-head.

The latin name for the creatures is planes minutus, and they got their name “Columbus” after it is believed the first record of them was made by explorer Christopher Columbus when he spotted the species clinging to drifting seaweed.

The animals spend their whole lives at sea perched on floating timber, the hulls of ships, buoys and even animals like turtles.

Mr Lyons said: “They often live amongst goose barnacles on bits of flotsam and occasionally in storms wash up on the shore.”

He added: “I noticed a marine specialist online had been finding them in Dorset and he had discovered a number of them on a large rope on a ship.

“Because of the direction of the wind if we were going to get any washing up here it would have been first thing on Sunday morning so I headed down to look for them and then we luckily found four.”

The ecologist said the first thing he saw was a “tiny claw” and hoped they have now washed back out to sea and continued on their long voyage.

He added: “I am in to all sorts of wildlife but it is not every day I go out early in the morning looking for crabs.”