An Orange County beachgoer had a rare encounter with a highly venomous sea snake after experts warned that the potentially deadly predator could come ashore with warming water temperatures associated with El Niño.
Jackie Aguilar and her family were walking along Crystal Cove State Beach the night of September 11 when she said she came across the yellow-bellied sea snake, which hasn’t been spotted in the region in nearly a decade.
At first Aguilar thought it was harmless, with video showing her using a palm frond to pick up the reptile.
She ended up researching the snake and discovering how dangerous her encounter could have been.
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“What? A venomous sea snake on the beach!” Aguilar told CBS LA.
“They’re all telling me like it’s one of the most poisonous ones. And then I started researching it and I found out it was like the yellow belly one,” she added.
Certified marine naturalist Capt. Chad Steffen told the outlet it appeared to be yellow-bellied sea snake, which carries enough venom to kill a human.
“They are very venomous, this particular sea snake, but they’re also very clumsy and sluggish out of the water,” he said.
“They’re not inclined to bite at all. They’re not aggressive.”
The snake, which is fully aquatic, has a striking two-tone body, with a dark brown or black back and bright yellow underbelly, along with a flattened, paddle-shaped tail that helps it glide through the water.
They are typically found farther south in tropical waters of the Pacific and Indian Ocean. But experts have warned that warmer ocean temperatures associated with El Niño could bring them to Southern California.
El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon marked by warmer-than-average ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific.
“We’re having a very warm water year this year,” Steffen said. “A lot of interesting things this year.”
The last time a yellow-bellied sea snake was spotted in the area was during the last El Niño period of 2018-2019, the Los Angeles Times reported.
