‘Feral, almost demonic’ sea creature attacks surfer in California: What caused it?

A longtime surfer and marine wildlife advocate was “left shaken” to his core after a relentless and horrifying encounter with a deranged sea creature in California.

RJ LaMendola shared what he called “the most harrowing and traumatic experience” in all his 20 years of surfing in a March 21 post on Facebook.

He was “riding the waves in solitude” about 150 yards from the shore when “out of nowhere, a sea lion erupted from the water, hurtling toward (him) at full speed,” he said in the post.

LaMendola managed to dodge the creature’s charge—but it popped back up moments later with its “teeth bared like some deranged predator” and slammed into his board “with unbelievable force,” he said.

By now he’d realized “this was no playful encounter,” he said. “This was something else entirely—something wrong.”

LaMendola paddled toward shore with all his might and tried “shouting in a desperate bid to scare it off,” he said.

It didn’t even flinch. In fact, it appeared “more enraged than before,” he said.

“It kept coming, unstoppable, its jaws snapping closer,” he said. At the last second, LaMendola swung his arm, trying to fend it off in a clumsy punch, but “it twisted its neck with eerie agility,” dodging his strike and lunged at him, clamping its teeth into his left buttock, piercing through his wetsuit “like it was nothing.”

“The pain was sharp and immediate, but the terror was worse—it shook its head violently, tugging me off my board by my flesh, dragging me into the water,” he said.

“I don’t know how to describe the fear that gripped me in that moment. So far from shore, so helpless, staring into the face of this creature that looked like nothing I’d ever seen—its expression was feral, almost demonic, devoid of the curiosity or playfulness I’d always associated with sea lions.”

LaMendola clawed his way back onto his board and desperately headed for shore, “paddling harder than (he) ever had in (his) life,” he said.

“But it wasn’t over,” he said. “The sea lion stalked me, swimming alongside, charging again and again—three, maybe four more times.”

When he finally reached the shore, the creature seemed almost to mock him—”swimming back and forth along the shoreline, pacing like it was daring me to return,” he said.

“The sight was chilling, a haunting image burnt into my mind,” he said, adding that he was “still reeling from the ordeal” as he rushed himself to the emergency room.

Later on, LaMendola reported the attack to the Channel Islands Marine Wildlife Institute, which told him the organization is “dealing with a wave of incidents across Santa Barbara and Ventura County involving sea lions and other marine animals affected by Domoic Acid Toxicosis,” he said.

“It’s a neurological condition caused by toxic algae blooms, and it’s driving these creatures into aggressive, uncharacteristic behavior,” he said. “The sea lion that attacked me wasn’t just acting out—it was sick, its mind warped by this poison coursing through its system. Knowing that doesn’t erase the terror, but it adds a layer of sadness to the fear.”

LaMendola said he’s still dealing with PTSD from the encounter.

“I can’t shake the memory of its quivering lips, the relentless pursuit, the feeling of being hunted in a place I’ve always loved,” he said.

And as a nature and wildlife lover, he said he feels terrified for the health of the ocean and its marine life.

“Something’s wrong. I don’t have answers yet, but I’m determined to find them,” he said in a follow-up post on March 25. “My life has been shaped around bringing awareness and protecting the world’s ocean—it’s my heart, and all its creatures are, too. Please, let’s raise awareness together. We can’t lose what we love.”

Santa Barbara is about a 95-mile drive northwest of Los Angeles.

What to know about domoic acid poisoning

There has been an “alarmingly high number” of sea lions and dolphins suffering from domoic acid poisoning found along the Southern California coast for this time of year, according to a March 26 Facebook post from the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

Domoic acid is produced by the algae Pseudo-nitzschia australis, according to The Marine Mammal Center.

“When conditions are right, waters off the coast of California can experience large-scale toxic algal blooms that are capable of sickening hundreds of sea lions in a matter of weeks, causing them to wash ashore at an alarming rate—sometimes a dozen a day,” according to the Marine Mammal Care Center.

Some symptoms of domoic acid poisoning are “seizures, bobbing head, erratic behavior and lethargy,” the Marine Mammal Center says.

With some domoic acid poisoning cases, the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute said it removes sea lions from the beach.

In other cases, however, the organization leaves the sea lion on the beach to “give the animal space and time to work through the acute phase of the toxin,” the organization said, adding that it continues to monitor the animal.

The organization warned those who come into contact with a “marine mammal in distress” to keep a distance of at least 50 feet.

2025 The Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.