The TSA says that a traveler has forgotten his snake at the Newark Security Checkpoint

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – A girl discovered something fishy at the security checkpoint of a New Jersey airport: a 15-inch-long snake.

Officials from the Transportation Security Administration of Newark Liberty International Airport said in a statement that it would appear that the thin black snake with a yellow ring around his neck was forgotten by a traveler.

The girl alerted a TSA officer and a gray garbage can at a checkpoint was placed on the snake which, according to authorities, was harmless.

The authorities temporarily closed the security lane and the Port Authority police removed the snake.

New Jersey federal director of security, Tom Carter, said in the statement that Newark has a strong system of lost and found information, but that the owner of the snake should not call them nor expect to be reunited with the reptile.

We do not know where the snake was taken.