Sea lion attacks teenage girl swimming in water off Southern California coast

This morning, a teenager in California is describing her frightening encounter with an aggressive sea lion. I'm just assuming it's a shark and the worst is gonna happen. It's gonna bite off my arm. It's gonna kill me. Phoebe Beltran was about 25 ft from shore off of Long Beach, taking part in a swim test for junior lifeguards when she suddenly felt intense pain. That's when I feel just this like pain and like this sharp, like sensation on my arm, like biting me constantly. Lifeguards rushing out, getting her back to shore. Once I got to the sand where I could stand up, my arm came out of the water and it's just bloody all over. And that's when lifeguards like came at me to walk me to shore. Such attacks are rare. But just this month, a surfer says he was attacked off Ventura County, dragged off his board by what he described as a demonic sea lion. More of the animals have been getting sick due to the growing frequencies of toxic algae blooms linked to climate change and toxic runoff. Phoebe says, despite the deep cuts on her arm, she is determined to redo her swim test. I hope to see myself as an actual lifeguard, knowing that all those people were there helping me. We're so glad she's okay, but it's unclear if the sea lion that attacked Phoebe was sick. The ongoing algae bloom is linked to an increase in deaths of sea lions, dolphins and other marine mammals. Brianna Nally, ABC News, New York.