A mountain lion was spotted roaming through a residential neighborhood in San Mateo Sunday evening, prompting police to order residents to shelter in place while they searched for the big cat.

Authorities never caught the mountain lion, but released a picture of it that was captured by a resident.

The animal was spotted around 8 p.m. near 20th Avenue and Le Salle Drive, a neighborhood near Junipero Serra High School and Peninsula Golf and Country Club.

Officers from the San Mateo Police Department set up a perimeter and tried to pin the animal down while sending an emergency notification to residents asking them to shelter in place.

After an hour-long hunt that failed to locate the mountain lion, police pulled out of the neighborhood.

Anyone who sees the mountain lion, or any other mountain lion, is warned to stay away from the animal and immediately call police.

Those who encounter a mountain lion were advised to not run, rather, face the animal, make noise, try to appear larger and throw rocks or other objects at the cat to scare it off.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky