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On the night of 11 September 2026 a beachgoer found a yellow-bellied sea snake (Hydrophis platurus) at Crystal Cove State Beach in Orange County, California.
It is the species' first reported appearance in California since 2018, when it was recorded twice in Orange County.
Scientists link the sighting to warm water from the 2026 El Niño, which carries tropical species north of their usual range.
The snake is highly venomous but sluggish on land. Beachgoers are told not to touch it and to alert lifeguards.
El Niño is the periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. Warm currents push north along the Americas and carry tropical animals, such as sea snakes, hammerheads and whale sharks, far beyond their normal range.
Simple Analogy: A warm conveyor belt that drops tropical passengers at cold stops.
Crystal Cove is a state park on the Pacific coast of Orange County in Southern California, well north of the snake's tropical Eastern Pacific range off Mexico and Central America. Its range across the tropical Indian Ocean includes the seas around India.
GS Paper I > Physical Geography > Ocean currents, El Niño / GS Paper III > Biodiversity
Living in the open sea rather than near the coast or seabed. The yellow-bellied sea snake is fully pelagic.
A species appearing outside its usual distribution, often driven by changes in water temperature