UK Only Article:
standard article
Issue:
The indispensable European
Fly Title:
Sea snakes
Rubric:
Something is lurking in California’s waters
Main image:
Cue sinister cello music
Cue sinister cello music
FOR the first time since the early 1970s, a highly venomous sea snake has turned up on a southern California beach—the latest in a string of unusual wildlife sightings, including hammerhead sharks and red-footed boobies. Though a bite from this yellow-bellied snake can theoretically be lethal, shutting down all nerve signals to the respiratory system, “Jaws” this is not: the snake attacks only when provoked, and no one has ever documented a human fatality from Pelamis platura.
This snake, which typically lives in tropical waters, has never before turned up so far north (in this hemisphere at least). While it is not clear what has brought it to Ventura County, experts say its arrival is a symptom of the record high ocean temperatures along the west coast. The phenomenon, climate scientists say, ...
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