Baby Sharks Making SoCal Home, Thanks To Warm Waters

LONG BEACH, CA — Surfers and swimmers alike will be singing more of the "Baby Shark" song this summer, as more baby sharks are making Southern California their home.

The Cal State Long Beach Biology Department's Shark Lab is using new technology to help predict great white shark migration, and have found that baby sharks are particularly sensitive to temperature changes in the water. The scientists have researched and collected data over the last ten years to help swimmers and surfers be aware of when sharks will be close to the coastline, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Data shows that climate change is pushing the baby shark nurseries farther north, according to the CSULB Shark Lab. In the future, more baby sharks will be in places like Monterey and Santa Cruz, Shark Lab director Chris Lowe told the news station.

El Niño, the warm phase of the fluctuating ocean's temperature, has changed the sharks' behavior. The water doesn't get cold enough for the sharks to leave in the winter, so they stick around the Southern California area, Lowe said.

"That [El Niño] changes their migratory pattern," Lowe told NBC Los Angeles. "To the public it makes it look like the shark population has exploded, when it hasn't really — it's just changed their behavior."

Great White sharks are the top of the food chain, although they're currently listed as a vulnerable species worldwide.

Earlier this month, Cal State Long Beach voted for a new mascot to replace "Prospector Pete," which was retired in spring 2018. The winner? Sharks, thanks to the CSULB Shark Lab and its location close to the beach.

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