Let’s set the scene: Southern California, March 2025. The surf’s up, the sun’s out, and sea lions—normally the playful, puppy-eyed mascots of the Pacific—are turning into something straight out of a marine horror flick. Surfers are getting bitten, swimmers are being chased, and lifeguard trainees are finding themselves locked in battles they didn’t sign up for.
Experts now say the shocking wave of sea lion attacks is the result of a silent, invisible threat swirling through the ocean: “toxic algae blooms”. More specifically, an organism called “Pseudo-nitzschia” is unleashing a powerful neurotoxin—”domoic acid”—into California’s coastal waters. This poison, ingested by sardines and anchovies, works its way up the food chain and straight into the bloodstream of sea lions.
What happens next is heartbreaking. These majestic creatures, overwhelmed by a toxin they never saw coming, start to lose control. They become erratic, lethargic, confused—some even suffer violent seizures.
Their brains are quite literally under attack, and in that disoriented state, they lash out. Not because they’re mean, not because they’ve gone rogue, but because they’re terrified and sick. And yes, the public is feeling the fallout.
Photographer Rj LaMendola, a seasoned ocean advocate with two decades in the surf, called his encounter “the most harrowing and traumatic experience” of his life. A 15-year-old girl in Long Beach, mid-swim test, felt something clamp down on her arm. Her first thought? Shark. Reality? Sea lion. It doesn’t get more terrifying than that.
The Marine Mammal Care Center in Los Angeles has already treated nearly “200 sea lions” suffering from domoic acid poisoning—”four times” the number seen at this time last year. And it’s not just the quantity that’s alarming, it’s the severity.
Some sea lions have remained in a comatose-like state “five weeks” into treatment, a grim sign that this bloom is worse than previous years.
The root of the issue is environmental: changing ocean patterns, driven by upwelling and intensified by climate change, are creating perfect storm conditions for algae to explode in toxic growth. What should be a nutrient-rich buffet for ocean life has instead become a neurological minefield.
Now, wildlife teams are in a race against time. Anti-seizure meds, sedatives, tube feeding, and hydration offer a “50 to 65 percent chance” of saving affected sea lions—if they’re found early enough.
But with the population now swelling to “250,000 along California’s coast”, the challenge is enormous. The real tragedy? These creatures, once symbols of California’s wild beauty, are now symbols of an ocean in distress.
