Super El Nino brings sea snakes, whale sharks to California
A powerful super El Nino is shaking things up along the California coast, bringing in rare visitors like yellow-bellied sea snakes and even whale sharks, spotted in September and in recent weeks.
These unusual sightings are a clear sign of how warmer ocean waters are changing where marine animals show up.
San Diego kelp shrinking, seabirds struggling
This super El Nino is more than just weird weather: it's disrupting the whole marine food chain.
With less nutrient-rich water reaching the surface, seabirds are struggling to find enough to eat, and native kelp forests off San Diego are shrinking fast.
As Jennifer Smith, a Scripps professor of marine biology, puts it, "We have been seeing tremendously warm water, and not seeing a lot of upwelling," which shows just how much local ecosystems are feeling the heat.