A poisonous yellow-bellied washed ashore Thursday in Huntington Beach has been found dead, Surfrider Foundation said. Before this, the extremely venomous snake has been seen only twice in California.

The snake was found by a volunteer who was cleaning up Bolsa Chica State Beach with 274 other individuals. The volunteer put the snake in a zip lock bag and took it home to store in the refrigerator. The reptile was found to be a poisonous species when the volunteer’s son examined the snake’s species.

Tony Soriano from the Huntington Beach Surfrider Foundation said no one really thought the snake is a dangerous species. None of the volunteers had any idea that they found a dead extremely venomous snake, yellow-bellied sea snake, Soriano added. The man gave the snake to the Museum of Natural History for further analysis.

Experts said the snake is very poisonous and if people see another yellow-bellied sea snake, they should report about it. They also warned people not to touch it as it could be dangerous.

The discovery of the yellow-bellied sea snake is surprising because the reptile usually found in warm waters in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is capable of swimming backward and forward. The poisonous snake can also stay underwater for over three hours.

The Surfrider Foundation experts believe the snake likely came to Bolsa Chica State Beach because of El Niño. The foundation wrote on Facebook, “There is belief that the El Niño temperature change could have enticed the creature to swim north in search of small fish and eels, which they use their venom to paralyze”.