By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-14 21:08:01 | Updated at 2026-08-14 23:05:28
2 hours ago
It’s been nearly ten years since a hammerhead shark was spotted off the coast of Southern California, but warmer water temperatures changed all of that.
Video captured by a fisherman standing on the Malibu Pier this week showed the shark swimming about 100 yards away from the shores of Surfrider Beach.
“Oh my god, it’s a hammerhead. It’s a hammerhead,” a person said in the video.
Hammerhead sharks are rarely seen in Southern Californ,ia but appear nearby during periods of warmer ocean temperature, Nate Jaros, the Aquarium of the Pacific vice president of animal care for fish and invertebrates, told KTLA 5.
“Hammerheads, most species in general, kind of like deeper waters based on prey that they hunt. They don’t come in so close to shore,” Jaros added.
Ocean temperatures in the Golden State have significantly gone up throughout the years as a result of El Niño, with waters in Santa Monica and Oceanside eclipsing over 75 degrees in late July.
The National Weather Service alerted that El Niño is “strengthening, with a greater than 90% chance of a very strong event during the Northern Hemisphere fall and winter” in 2026 to 2027 in an update on Thursday.
The sea temperature also was 2 Celsius degrees warmer than normal in the eastern equatorial Pacific.
The shark spotted in Malibu appeared to be a smooth hammerhead shark, this species grows up to 13 feet long and is known to feed mainly on fish and squid, according to Oceana. The last hammerhead sighting close to Southern California beaches came back in 2015.
Stingray sightings have also surged, with recorded incidents in Orange County this year more than doubling compared to last year.
