El Niño Blamed For Poisonous Sea Snakes In Local Waters

OXNARD (CBSLA.com) —  The coming El Niño is blamed for a sudden surge of sea snakes in the waters off Southern California.

Anna Iker snapped an image of a poisonous sea snake Thursday on Silver Strand beach in Oxnard while she was watching her kids play in the water.

"So, I looked at it, and I was pretty shocked because we don't even see snakes like land snakes around our neighborhood ," Iker said.

"We all just freaked out because that's not something you ever see around here," said Mary price who lives nearby.

It's called a yellow-bellied sea snake. It's one of two seen in Oxnard this week. Heal the Bay is now handing out warning fliers because the yellow bellies are highly venomous.

Dana Murray of Heal the Bay said: "They would probably only bite if people were aggressive like if they were holding the snakes or bumping into them."

Murray said if you see one, stay at a safe distance. She encourages people to take as many photos and videos as possible and post them on social media with GPS coordinates. Scientists can use the information to track the snakes since they haven't been spotted in California for 30 years.

Yellow bellies are typically found in tropical conditions off Mexico and Costa Rica. But El Niño's warm water is carrying them farther north.

But Murray said you should try not to fear. "You have a better chance of being killed from a falling vending machine or stuck by lightning than you do by getting bit by a shark or one of these sea snakes in California," she said.