For the third time in recent months, a rare venomous sea snake has washed up on a Southern California beach, hundreds of miles from its normal waters. The 20-inch-long yellow-bellied serpent was found about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Dog Beach in Coronado by a passerby who alerted lifeguards, Coronado city officials said in a statement. The lifeguard put the snake in a bucket, where it died soon afterward, officials said.
Two of the snakes have washed up on Southern California shores in recent months — one 27 inches long in Huntington Beach in December and a 2-footer in Ventura County in October. Both died. The species, known to scientists as Pelamis platura, was first seen in Southern California in San Clemente in 1972 during an El Niño. FULL REPORT
