Phoebe Beltran sustained several cuts on her right arm and had to be hospitalized after she was attacked by a sea lion in Long Beach.

"My initial reaction was, 'I'm getting eaten in the middle of the water, it's a shark, I'm going to die,'" Phoebe Beltran told ABC News. Phoebe Beltran immediately screamed for help, which is when the animal -- she later found out was a sea lion -- let go of her arm.

The toxicity of this particular bloom seems to be a lot higher, ” said a marine biologist. “Animals are in worse shape than they have been in the past.”