Unusual Sea Life Sightings More Common With Warmer El Niño Waters

MONTEREY (KCBS) -- Scientists and sport fishermen are seeing more signs of an aquatic shift due to warmer coastal waters brought by El Niño, with unusual sea life being caught outside of Monterey Bay and Half Moon Bay.

Pelagic red crabs have arrived which are snacks for schools of blue fin tuna and wahoo, the kinds of fish usually seen off the coast of Baja California.

Fishermen are seeing other changes among the species normally seen off the California coast.

"Salmon guys are catching a few barracuda which we only see during an El Niño year," said Larry Collins with the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners' Association. "You see a lot of sunfish during the El Niño. The jellyfish tend to die off."

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The Dungeness crab should be hiding in deeper water where it's colder, but Collins said he doesn't expect a big haul when the crab season opens in a few weeks.

Evolutionary biologist Elliott Hazen with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said migratory species like crabs should be seen even further north.

"These waters are likely to persist between six months to a year, so there's a good chance that there'll be at least seasonal visitors for quite a bit longer" said Hazen. "One of the things we've also seen in some of the past years that I don't think we've seen any sightings yet are Humboldt squid, so there's a chance that we could see more unusual visitors to the coast this year."

Humboldt squid, also known as jumbo squid, are one of the largest squid species and are normally found along the west coast of Mexico and South America.

A 2007 study found that El Niño events in 1997 and 2002 brought Humboldt squid up to the California coast in higher numbers than previously observed.