Rare Hammerhead Shark Makes a Splash at Malibu Pier

Key Takeaways

• A hammerhead shark appeared near Malibu Pier on Thursday, stunning local fishermen.
• The video of the encounter has gone viral online.
• Scientists tie the rare visit to unusually warm water from El Niño and climate change.
• The last big hammerhead sightings off Southern California came in 2015, also during an El Niño.
• One fisherman briefly hooked the shark, but it spit out the bait and swam away, prompting lifeguard warnings.
• Hammerheads are considered virtually harmless to people, but their populations are in steep decline.
• Warm water that draws rare visitors may also threaten native species.

Shock on the Pier

Around noon Thursday, Ariel Kohanchi was fishing at Malibu Pier for the first time in about a month when he and others spotted a distinct hammer-shaped head just below the surface. His video shows him shouting, "Hammerhead. Hammerhead. Hammerhead. Hammerhead. Oh my god!" as the shark made circles and its fin broke through the water. Kohanchi published the video on YouTube.

"I was like, 'Oh my God.' It was a hammerhead, and I started going insane because it's rare here," Kohanchi said. The video has since gone viral online.

The Los Angeles Times reported the sighting around noon. ABC7 described it as Thursday morning. Regardless of the exact time, all accounts agree the shark lingered near the pier and put on a show for stunned onlookers. One fisherman briefly hooked the shark, prompting lifeguards to warn kayakers, surfers and paddlers in the water, but the shark spat out the bait and disappeared into the blue, according to Kohanchi's account of events in the video.

The video captured from the pier showed the shark swimming about 100 yards from the shores of Surfrider Beach.

Why a Hammerhead in Southern California?

Hammerheads prefer warmer water than the Pacific normally delivers to Southern California. According to the iNaturalist species-sighting database, the last hammerhead sighting near this stretch of coast was more than a decade ago.

"It's uncommon but not impossible," said Brendan Talwar, a shark specialist at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. "If someone had asked at the beginning of this summer what shark species we should expect, I would've definitely said hammerheads."

"I would treat any sighting of a hammerhead as an amazing opportunity to be really excited about. Their species are not doing well."

Talwar and other experts point to a combination of late-summer warmth, a strong El Niño cycle, and climate change pushing warm-water species north. Late summer and early fall bring the warmest temperatures of the year, he said. The water temperature at the surface can top 70 degrees this time of year during an El Niño, which sets the stage for creatures like hammerheads to follow their prey.

Ocean temperatures in the Golden State have risen significantly as a result of El Niño, with waters in Santa Monica and Oceanside eclipsing over 75 degrees in late July.

The shark spotted in Malibu appeared to be a smooth hammerhead shark, a species that grows up to 13 feet long and feeds mainly on fish and squid, according to Oceana.

The sharks face severe threats worldwide. Their large fins are prized in some markets, they often die after being caught accidentally and released, and overfishing has caused "extreme declines," Talwar said.

Local California Context

Malibu Pier is in Los Angeles County, one of the most watched stretches of coastline in California. Cal State Long Beach's Shark Lab had already predicted a "very sharky summer" in 2026 because of warm water and El Niño. This hammerhead sighting fits that forecast.

Nate Jaros of the Aquarium of the Pacific said warming water is the main driver. Fishermen are also reporting barracuda, a species rarely seen here, with Kohanchi saying they now catch two or three a day.

"It's absolutely fascinating and exciting to see an animal that graceful in our waters," said Nate Jaros of the Aquarium of the Pacific, who noted the warm water brought the shark north of the border.

"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 told KTLA 5.

Jaros also said the warm El Niño water that attracts these unusual visitors comes with concern for native species, which can suffer due to algae blooms and other impacts on their food supply because of changing temperatures.

Stingray sightings have also surged, with recorded incidents in Orange County this year more than doubling compared to last year.

Background: 2015 and the El Niño Connection

California State University Long Beach Shark Lab expert Chris Lowe said in an email that hammerheads were also spotted off Southern California in 2015, during the last strong El Niño. That year, an 8-foot hammerhead was briefly hooked by two fishermen on the Malibu pier, prompting lifeguards to warn kayakers, surfers and paddlers in the water. A kayaker was bitten by a hammerhead that year, too, and people fishing off Sunset Beach encountered a 10-foot hammerhead, according to news accounts at the time. The same conditions brought green sea turtles, whale sharks, and even a venomous yellow-bellied sea snake to the region.

Conditions are now moving toward a "super" El Niño like 2015, which could bring even more unusual creatures to the coast.

The National Weather Service said on Thursday 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. The sea temperature in the eastern equatorial Pacific was 2 degrees Celsius warmer than normal.

The head extends perpendicular to the shark's body, a feature that distinguishes it from other shark species. The distinctive hammer-shaped head contains electroreceptors that help the shark detect prey. Of the three main hammerhead species, the smooth hammerhead is most common and is "sometimes curious" around people, especially if someone is fishing, but is "virtually harmless," Talwar said.

Conclusion

For the fishermen on the pier, the hammerhead was an unforgettable thrill. For scientists, it is another sign that California's ocean is changing. As warm water lingers, more rare visitors may soon follow.