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Whale Shark Spotted Off Southern California Coast
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Rare Sighting Near Malibu and Santa Barbara Island
Commercial fisherman and long-time fish spotter Carl Sbarounis was flying his plane over the Pacific when a friend alerted him to a large whale shark cruising roughly 30 miles between Malibu and Santa Barbara Island. Sbarounis, who has logged more than four decades spotting fish for commercial fisheries, photographed the animal and estimated its length at 14–16 feet. While airborne, he also recorded schools of uniquely colored manta rays, including tan-brown individuals and gray spinetail devil rays. The sighting occurred during a period of unusually warm coastal waters attributed to a strong El Niño event and a regional marine heatwave that have persisted through the summer.
Ocean-Temperature Drivers
Scientists link the appearance of tropical megafauna to elevated sea-surface temperatures. Postdoctoral scholar Brendan Talwar of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego explained that warm water during El Niño encourages whale sharks to travel farther north, but they typically retreat south as temperatures drop in late winter. The current heatwave has extended the window for such migrations, prompting occasional encounters off Southern California’s coast.
Official Perspectives
Talwar emphasized that whale sharks, despite being the world’s largest fish, possess tiny teeth and feed on plankton, making them unlikely to remain once colder water returns.
Verbatim Quotes
- “We wouldn’t expect these animals to stick around through the late winter, for example. They’re going to move further back south as water gets colder,” — Brendan Talwar, a postdoctoral scholar at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego