El Niño draws hammerheads and whale sharks to Southern California

USA TODAY's marine-life report pairs unusual coastal visitors with a forecast for a wetter California winter.

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USA TODAY Story of November 14, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 187,570 views a day, 30 times a normal first day on this channel (6,342).

El Niño brings rare marine life to California waters

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Rays gather off Catalina. Filmed from above, they move through clear blue water, opening a USA TODAY report about the unusual marine life appearing off Southern California as El Niño warms the water.

The visitors extend well beyond those rays. Nate Jaros, vice president of animal care at Aquarium of the Pacific, describes sightings of game fish, sea snakes and some particularly striking sharks. "But we're also seeing big sharks, rare sharks like hammerheads and whale sharks," he says. An overhead shot shows a hammerhead swimming near the surface.

The Short had drawn about 160,000 views in 17 hours, already far beyond the channel's usual full-day audience for that format. Its subject offers something concrete to see in a climate pattern often explained through weather maps: different animals turning up along a familiar coast.

Captain Brian Woolley of Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching explains that fish follow warm water and food. His suggestion that they do not know where they are on the planet also prompts several commenters to bring up marine animals' navigation abilities.

The report finishes by looking ashore. It cites NOAA's prediction of wetter-than-average conditions across California this winter, with warmer temperatures in the north, connecting the offshore sightings to the season Californians may experience on land.

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