Sea lion crash causes chaos on Adelaide motorway

Warning: This story contains images that some readers may find distressing.

A bizarre incident on Adelaide's North-South Motorway has left drivers baffled and caused significant delays after a car collided with a sea lion. 

The unexpected encounter occurred just before 6am when the mammal, weighing more than 200 kilograms, blended in with the bitumen in the darkness. 

Driver Hayley Steele described the incident as "pretty scary", having initially thought the sea lion for a kangaroo.

"It wasn't until later, like 20 minutes later, that I found out it was a seal," Steele said. 

The environment department believes the sea lion may have been separated from a colony at nearby Outer Harbor and was attempting to find a place to rest. 

"They're wild animals, they're free to move around," ecologist Dr Karl Hillyard said. 

"I think it's probably gone to find a place to rest and unfortunately gone in the wrong direction."

The incident caused significant damage to the car and resulted in traffic delays exceeding an hour for some commuters. 

"That was very horrendous," said Sanjeet Atwal, a commuter caught in the delay. 

"It's just a nightmare, it's bumper to bumper all the way up Port Wakefield Road and then going all the way up to Port River Expressway," said fellow traveller Dee McAlinden.

Transport department contractors removed the sea lion after more than two hours. 

The animal is currently undergoing testing for notifiable diseases and will be checked for tags to determine if it belonged to a known colony.

This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.