Biologists moved 204 olive ridley eggs off Orange County beaches

The first known natural sea turtle nests on the U.S. West Coast were shifted to the Aquarium of the Pacific before storm surf could wash them out.

Verified · Source: Los Angeles TimesSep 25, 2026 · 1 min read

How to help

An olive ridley sea turtle resting on sand — Illustrative photo of an olive ridley sea turtle. This is not one of the Orange County nests. Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Read the original

The reporting lives at Los Angeles Times. Our summary is checked against it, and we link it on every story.

Read it on Los Angeles Times

Biologists carried 204 olive ridley eggs off beaches in Seal Beach and Huntington Beach and drove them to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The Los Angeles Times reported on September 25, 2026, that the nests, found September 16 and September 19, are the first known naturally occurring sea turtle nests on the U.S. West Coast. Forecast surf from storms off Mexico, plus high tides, was expected to wash them away.

Teams from NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service packed the eggs in sand-filled coolers and set them in a quiet recovery room for a 45- to 60-day incubation. It is not yet known whether any eggs are viable, and they will be left undisturbed. If hatchlings do emerge, the aquarium plans to release them quickly so they still have the energy for the swim offshore.