A shark swam within feet of surfers in shallow water off El Porto Beach in Manhattan Beach, according to video posted Friday by social media influencer Josh Hublitz. The footage shows a dorsal fin cutting through ankle-deep water close to shore.
“Surfing with sharks in Los Angeles… I’ve actually never seen a shark in El Porto before. This is the first,” Hublitz said on Instagram. “Ankle deep water. That is super sketch,” he added.
One Instagram commenter speculated the animal was a harmless “baby thresher,” a species known to hunt baitfish near shore. The shark’s species has not been confirmed.
Part of a Broader Pattern
The El Porto sighting is the latest in a series of shark encounters along the Southern California coast in recent months. On Tuesday, the Huntington Beach Fire Department closed a two-mile stretch of beach in Orange County after an “aggressive” great white shark, estimated at 10 to 12 feet long, was reported circling near Lifeguard Tower 16.
In late June, a 9-foot great white was spotted off La Jolla, prompting officials to post warning signs even though no aggressive behavior was reported there.
Scientists point to unusually warm ocean temperatures tied to a powerful El Niño pattern as a possible driver of the recent wave of unusual marine-life activity off Southern California. Researchers say the warmer waters may be pushing some shark species farther north than their typical range, bringing them into closer contact with crowded beaches.
The pattern has extended beyond sharks. Two endangered olive ridley sea turtles were recently discovered nesting on Orange County beaches near Seal Beach and the Huntington Beach Pier, marking the first documented nests of that species on the West Coast. A rare hammerhead shark was also seen off Malibu, and venomous sea snakes have turned up along the Southern California coastline.
