SEAL BEACH, CA — A sea turtle nest discovered on an Orange County beach is the first known sea turtle on record to nest naturally anywhere on the West Coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries announced Monday. It was one of two nests discovered in along Northern Orange County beachs, but they couldn't stay for long, experts decided on Friday.
Sea turtle eggs laid between Huntington Beach and Seal Beach by two different endangered olive ridley sea turtles were moved to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach Friday. Experts were worried that the weekend's high surf from Hurricane Polo and the incoming Kelvin wave-driven high tides would endanger the nests, according to an Aquarium of the Pacific spokesperson.
Early Friday, wildlife biologists carefully collected eggs from nests near the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge and in Huntington Beach and transferred them to a temperature-controlled environment at the aquarium, according to an interagency team overseeing the nests.
Two teams set out at 6 a.m. to excavate the nests of the rubbery eggs laid near the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge and in Huntington Beach. About 104 eggs were removed from Seal Beach and 100 more from Huntington Beach, according to Aquarium of the Pacific President and CEO Jeffrey Flocken.
"It has been quite an exciting morning," Flocken said. "It's not every day you get a call inviting you to be part of an emergency rescue of 204 different individuals of an endangered species. But that's what happened today."
The eggs will be incubated for the next 45 to 60 days in hopes that they will be viable and hatch, Flocken said.
Officials had been monitoring Hurricane Polo and the potential for large swells.
"Just a couple days ago, we started hearing that there was going to be a potential for giant swells hitting both those two beaches, coming from the hurricane that's forming right now out in the Pacific Ocean," Flocken said.
The olive ridley sea turtle was seen digging a nest and laying eggs near Seal Beach in Orange County on Wednesday, Sept. 16, officials said.
Three days later, a sea turtle was also seen a few miles south of the Huntington Beach Pier, though experts do not know if the sightings involved two different sea turtles or the same one.
"Our team of local, state and federal partners will monitor the nesting sites throughout the incubation period, which typically lasts for 45-60 days," Administration officials said earlier this week before the decision was made to move them. "Both areas are fenced, protected and have interpretive signage."
Experts had urged beachgoers to steer clear and not disturb the highly-sensitive locations.
According to experts, olive ridley turtles are the smallest of the sea turtles. Adults typically weight up to 100 pounds, and are about two and-a-half to three inches in length.
The sea turtles are found worldwide, but primarily in the tropical waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. e.
This isn't the first uncommon critter to show up on SoCal shores this summer.
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Over the past two weeks, residents have reported sightings of both rattlesnakes and yellow-bellied sea snakes on the shores of Crystal Cove State Beach in Newport Beach.
Hammerhead sharks have been spotted off Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties, while a whale shark was seen off Malibu and mahi-mahi, also known as dorado, were spotted near the Southern Channel Islands, Natural History Museum officials said.
A longfinned bigeye caught off the Venice Fishing Pier has also been added to the museum's collection. The species is typically found from Baja California to Peru, according to the National History Museum's Ichthyology Curator Bill Ludt.
RELATED: Venomous Sea Snake Slithers Onto SoCal Beach, Video Shows
The seldom-seen animals are appearing in Southern California waters as warmer waters linked to El Niño reshape conditions along the coast, according to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Previous periods of unusually warm ocean water have brought tropical species including damselfishes, pufferfishes and angelfishes north from Mexico, the museum said.
El Niño can also affect more familiar animals. Reduced cold-water upwelling can limit food for seals and sea lions, while toxic algal blooms can increase the risk of domoic acid poisoning, which can cause seizures and other serious health problems.
Residents who encounter a sea turtle were urged to call the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries hotline at 562-506-4315.
Patch staffer Chris Lindahl and City News Service contributed to this article.
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