A fearless tourist played with a mystery creature - unaware that it was a potentially deadly sea snake.

Norvelyn Hernandez was on an island hopping tour when they spotted the striped reptile passing by their boat in Aklan province, the Philippines on April 10.

She immediately became friendly with the snake until other tourists warned her that it could be a type of extremely venomous sea snake - capable of killing humans with a single bite.

However, local tour guides said they did not believe the snake was dangerous.

The woman’s boyfriend Jester Cornelio said: ’We loved to travel so we admire nature so much. We asked the local guides if we could play with the creature and they said yes.’

Norvelyn finished playing with the sea snake and it was then pushed back into its habitat away from the tourist area after the incident.

Sea snakes are found in the Indian and Pacific oceans. They are highly venomous when provoked, with a powerful toxin that causes dizziness, nausea, weakness, difficulty speaking or swallowing, pain, altered mental status, coma, and respiratory collapse.

Fishermen who accidentally capture the predators in their nets risk being bitten.