Snake gone fishing: Invasive water snake found in Yuma

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY)- A snake catching and eating a fish in the water! A local photographer caught the phenomenal fishing photo in a local stream. What's also raising some eyebrows is the serpent is not native to this area.

Local photographer Ludmila Edwards says she was out enjoying the beauty of nature at a stream near Fortuna Pond, and then she says she saw something incredible.

"Suddenly, there is a big splash of water in front of me, and I look and there is a snake that caught a fish," said Edwards. "So I rushed to the car, I grabbed my camera, and I just start clicking away."

The Arizona Game and Fish says the snake is a banded water snake called a Genus Nerodia. It is invasive to this part of the country, and is mostly found in the mid western to eastern United States. The department says they first started seeing the snake show up a few years ago.

"We're not sure how they were introduced to the area. We became aware that they were introduced in 2016 in which surveys were conducted to kind of get an understanding of the spread," said Yosie Hyink with the Yuma Arizona Game and Fish.

And with Ludmila’s special nature birthday surpise, she says she hopes more people clean up the area when visiting the site, so more generations can continue to come and enjoy it. And of course, so the snake can have a nice place to live.