LaMendola called CIMWI about the incident. His experience off Oxnard Friday was the first aggressive sea lion reported to the nonprofit during this domoic acid outbreak. As of Friday, no other marine mammal rescue organization had reports of sea lion bites, the group said.

I endured the most harrowing and traumatic experience of my 20 years of surfing,” the photographer and explorer said.

A surfer was left shaken on Friday after he was attacked by a sea lion that was presumably infected with a toxic algae that’s rapidly spreading across California’s coastline. Ventura County local Rj LaMendola was surfing at Oxnard State Beach on Friday when a sea lion suddenly “erupted from the water” and started barreling toward him,