Why a rare, poisonous sea snake showed up on a California beach

A yellow-bellied sea snake that invaded a Southern California beach was probably ill or injured, said a herpetologist, and warmer waters may increase such occurrences.

A surfer recently discovered a yellow-bellied sea snake (Pelamis platurus to his friends) on Silverstrand Beach in Ventura County, according to officials at the Heal the Bay organization and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

CaliforniaHerps.com records sightings in 1961 in L.A. Bay, San Diego in 1985 and during the 1982-83 El Niño at San Clemente beach in Orange County. Normally, the Pacific Ocean is too cold. It ended up washing back into the water, but not before she snapped a photo of it. Another person reported seeing the snake along the shore Friday morning.

The onset of the system is proving to have ununsual effects on where wildlife is popping up these days, allowing animals, such as sea snakes, to ride warm ocean currents across the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The 2ft-long snake, which is descended from Asian cobras and Australian tiger snakes, typically lives in warm tropical waters and is more common near Baja California, Mexico.

Although venomous, yellow-bellied sea snakes are generally harmless when left alone. It’s one of two seen in the area this week.

The snake died a short time later.

Greg Pauly, herpetology curator at the museum, said: “The species is entirely aquatic”. But experts are warning that where there’s one yellow-bellied sea snake, there’s bound to be more.