A sea turtle laid eggs on a California beach. No one had ever recorded that on the U.S. West Coast
In September 2026, an olive ridley sea turtle dug a nest and laid eggs near Seal Beach, California. NOAA Fisheries says it is the first recorded nest of any kind of sea turtle on the U.S. West Coast. Three days later, a second turtle did the same thing.
On September 16, 2026, at about 3 p.m., a beachgoer spotted an olive ridley sea turtle digging a nest and laying eggs on the beach near Seal Beach, in Orange County, California. The beachgoer told the Huntington Beach lifeguards. NOAA Fisheries says this is the first-ever recorded nest for any sea turtle species on the U.S. West Coast.
Basis: NOAA Fisheries, “First-Ever Olive Ridley Sea Turtle Nested in California” (September 25, 2026).
Three days later and about 8 miles away, a second turtle was seen nesting near the Huntington Beach Pier. How did scientists know it was a different turtle? A NOAA biologist compared photos of the two: their body shape, the number and location of barnacles on them, and their scute pattern. Scutes are the large scales on a turtle's shell. NOAA says their arrangement is unique, much like a human fingerprint.
Basis: Same NOAA Fisheries article (photo ID analysis by the Southwest Fisheries Science Center).
Olive ridleys had never been documented nesting in the United States. NOAA says the closest nesting site is in Baja California, Mexico, near the town of Todos Santos. A few scattered nests occur near Magdalena Bay, on the Pacific coast of Baja. Nothing farther north had been recorded until now.
Basis: Same NOAA Fisheries article. NOAA describes the turtles' usual nesting beaches as “hundreds of miles to the south.”
Then a problem: tropical storms off Mexico were expected to send high surf onto the beaches. Big waves and flooding could wash the nests away. So on September 25, a team of scientists from federal and state agencies collected the 100–200 eggs and moved them to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, where aquarium staff are caring for them. The eggs typically incubate (stay warm and develop) for 45–60 days before hatching.
Basis: Same NOAA Fisheries article. NOAA says the team decided that moving the eggs gave them the highest chance of survival.
If the eggs hatch, the baby turtles will be released on the same beaches where the eggs were laid. Why there? Adult female sea turtles tend to come back to the area where they hatched. NOAA says that about 15 years after hatching, they return as adults to nest on the beach where they were born. So NOAA calls this a possible “founding event,” the start of something new.
Basis: Same NOAA Fisheries article.
Sea turtles are protected under the Endangered Species Act. If you ever see a turtle on a beach, NOAA asks people not to disturb it, its nest, its babies, or the fences and signs around the nest, and to tell a lifeguard.
Basis: Same NOAA Fisheries article (“What You Can Do”).
Why did these turtles nest so far north? NOAA says the exact reasons are uncertain. Warm sea surface temperatures from ongoing marine heatwaves and the incoming 2027 El Niño are likely key factors. Olive ridleys naturally wander and travel long distances. NOAA says their adaptable nature, and perhaps navigational mistakes, may also have played a part. Notice the words NOAA uses: “uncertain,” “likely,” “perhaps.” Scientists don't know for sure yet.
※ A hypothesis is an idea that isn't proven yet.
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