Sea lions are stranded on California's coast with signs of poisoning by harmful algae

Sea lions, rare marine mammals are stranding themselves on the California coast. Experts believe this is hinting towards the possibility of widespread poisoning by a harmful algae bloom that occurred this summer.

The incident of stranded sea lions has been happening since July 26, as the marine mammals were found lying along the shoreline in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, as per The Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute.

The institutein a statement said that marine mammals are suffering from domoic acid, a neurotoxin that affects the brain. The poisoning event is largely affecting adult female California sea lions, it added.

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The team has rescued 23 such animals so far. Coastal Vandenberg Space Force Base released photos of sea lions being rescued from one of its beaches.

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“Rising ocean temperatures and excess nutrients are fueling these blooms, producing toxins that enter the food chain through small fish,”CoastalVanderberg Space Force said in an Instagram caption that accompanied photos of a stranded seal being treated by wildlife officials.

“Local efforts, including monitoring and rescue initiatives, are in place to mitigate the impact.”

Outbreaks of domoic acid poisoning are common along the California coast and have caused several mass sickening incidents in recent years.

The neurotoxin is produced by a microscopic alga that proceeds through the food chain by accumulating in smaller marine animals, such as crustaceans, fish and squid, and then gets transferred to larger animals such as sea lions, dolphins and birds.

Experts say people can also get sickened by this acid.

The symptoms for affected animals can include disorientation, head weaving, foaming at the mouth and seizures.

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Last year, hundreds of sea lions and dolphins died in the first weeks of June- it was termed a severe outbreak. At the time, marine mammal rescue workers reported receiving hundreds of calls a day about sickened animals.

While such events are naturally occurring, scientists have said that domoic acid outbreaks seem to increase in their severity, and are exploring its links to warming ocean temperatures.

“I’ve been studying domoic acid for 30 years and I have a feeling it’s getting worse based on the records we continue to break,” the executive director of the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System, Clarissa Anderson, told the Guardian in an interview last year.

(With inputs from agencies)