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Whale Shark Filmed Off Malibu Adds to Growing List of Tropical Species Appearing in Southern California Waters
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Whale Shark Filmed Off Malibu Adds to Growing List of Tropical Species Appearing in Southern California Waters

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While surfers flocking to Malibu for a hurricane swell is exactly what you’d expect, the aftermath of Hurricane Marine brought a new type of visitor. A video posted to Instagram this week shows a whale shark cruising the surface off Malibu. Whale sharks are the largest fish and largest shark species on the planet, and seeing one in California isn’t a good thing. Whale sharks are tropical animals. They filter-feed on plankton and small fish in the warm equatorial belt from Baja south, ranging as far as the Galápagos and beyond. Southern California is well outside their normal territory. Sightings in state waters exist but are extraordinarily rare, a clear sign of the changing climate and warmer than average ocean temperatures. View this post on Instagram The Malibu sighting is not happening in a vacuum. On August 13, a fisherman filmed a hammerhead shark from the Malibu Pier — another species almost never seen this far north.…

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