I saw these pink blobs on San Diego beaches last autumn and winter.
After asking around online turned up no answers (though it did lead to getting my work on Wikipedia), I sent my photos to researchers at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, who were able to identify them.
These are juveniles of the "sweet potato sea cucumber," scientifically known as Caudina arenicola or Molpadia arenicola. Normally found in deep water, they sometimes wash up during storms.
Gulls, not caring about taxonomic distinctions, happily eat them:
These would be at home in the weird "superfood" ads that were all over the web a few years back.
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