{"id":864067,"date":"2026-09-28T23:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T23:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/864067\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T23:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T23:24:17","slug":"unusual-shark-fish-species-spotted-near-la-jolla-waters-ahead-of-el-nino-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/864067\/","title":{"rendered":"Unusual shark, fish species spotted near La Jolla waters ahead of El Ni\u00f1o \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

With warmer ocean waters and an anticipated El Ni\u00f1o weather event quickly approaching, local scientists are expecting some unusual guests off the Southern California coast \u2014 including hammerhead sharks, devil rays and whale sharks near La Jolla.<\/p>\n

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting that the 2026-2027 El Ni\u00f1o weather pattern could be among the strongest on record, bringing warmer-than-average ocean temperatures and wetter, more intense winters to California.<\/p>\n

In preparation, scientists at the La Jolla-based Scripps Institution of Oceanography launched its El Ni\u00f1o Resource Hub in late August to outline the ways in which El Ni\u00f1o could impact ocean life. The streamlined website tackles frequently asked questions from local scientists\u2019 perspectives, drawing upon data from previous El Ni\u00f1o events and others like it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at the edge of a very strong El Ni\u00f1o that\u2019s bringing pretty warm water to the Southern California area, and with that we\u2019re seeing species that are popping up that we don\u2019t typically see in this area,\u201d Jack Elstner, a Ph.D. candidate for biological oceanography at Scripps, told the La Jolla Light.<\/p>\n

Elstner\u2019s focus is on sharks, and in particular, juvenile white sharks whose nursery hotspots are along the Southern California coast. Typically, these sharks are observed mostly in summer and fall before migrating south in the winter. But this isn\u2019t a typical year.<\/p>\n

The difference this year is that sharks are expected to linger on the California coast for longer than usual. He reports that the hotspots for juvenile white sharks changes from year to year, and this year Santa Barbara is particularly active. In prior years, Torrey Pines and Del Mar were considered active sites.<\/p>\n

With El Ni\u00f1o slated to take place starting in December, he said other shark species that typically live in much warmer waters such as Baja California could find themselves as far north as San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of reports of hammerhead sharks,\u201d said Elstner, adding that some have been seen right off La Jolla. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen devil rays in the area, which is a tropical species we don\u2019t typically see here. And in the past several weeks, people have also seen whale sharks. So we\u2019re getting a lot of species that we don\u2019t typically see in this area with this warm weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sealife impacts during an El Ni\u00f1o can extend beyond rare shark sightings. Mark Ohman, a distinguished professor in the graduate division of biological oceanography at Scripps, said in a release<\/a> that during times like these, warmer waters can bring subtropical and tropical plankton and fish species.<\/p>\n

Specifically in San Diego, there have sometimes been major influxes of swimming red crabs that would typically breed in Baja California during El Ni\u00f1o events. While there haven\u2019t been more swimming red crab sightings yet, researchers are preparing for the possibility of an increase, similar to what was seen in past events.<\/p>\n

\"LargeLarge numbers of bright red tuna crabs washed up on San Diego beaches from Ocean Beach to La Jolla in 2015, seen here at Scripps Pier on June 11 that year. (Brittany Hook \/ Scripps Institution of Oceanography)<\/p>\n

Now, Scripps researchers hope that their tracking and documentation of unusual guests in Southern California waters can be a community effort.<\/p>\n

Scripps\u2019 Marine Vertebrate Collection manager Ben Frable said warmer waters tend to bring more tropical and unusual fish to Southern California. During a marine heatwave from 2014-2016 that concluded with a \u201cvery large\u201d El Ni\u00f1o, his team recorded 36 new or barely seen species in California. Should more be spotted this year, Scripps is asking surfers, divers, photographers, anglers and beachgoers to let them know.<\/p>\n

Photos of rare findings can submitted via Scripps\u2019 El Ni\u00f1o Fish Records Form<\/a>, which asks swimmers and divers what they saw, where they encountered it, the time in which they spotted it and any additional context to support their account.<\/p>\n

Disruptions in food chains during El Ni\u00f1o weather patterns can also cause seabirds and marine mammals to adjust their typical migration schedule, he added, as warm waters and disrupted production at the base of the food web can lead to insufficient nutrition, lowered reproductive success, and ultimately, a higher mortality rate.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging that \u201cwhen these types of climate events happen, people have questions about how marine ecosystems are going to respond,\u201d Elstner said, Scripps scientists will host a town hall meeting at 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 7 at the Scripps Seaside Forum in La Jolla. Attendees are encouraged to register at luma.com\/g812l4a<\/a> ahead of the event.<\/p>\n

To learn more about El Ni\u00f1o and Scripps scientists\u2019 latest insights, visit scripps.ucsd.edu\/news\/el-nino<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With warmer ocean waters and an anticipated El Ni\u00f1o weather event quickly approaching, local scientists are expecting some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[52660,364544,2356,41084,41082,41083,41085,94819,7155,7156,79,2557,201],"class_list":["post-864067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-baja-california","tag-bird-rock","tag-california","tag-la-jolla","tag-la-jolla-light","tag-la-jolla-light-news","tag-la-jolla-shores","tag-ocean-beach","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-science","tag-top-stories-sdut","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}