A whale-watching captain working the waters west of San Diego spotted something he almost never sees in Southern California: a dozen spinetail devil rays gliding near the 9-Mile Bank. The sighting, made on September 9, is part of a broader wave of tropical marine life showing up along the coast this summer as ocean temperatures climb well above normal.
Captain Ryan Lawler encountered the rays near the 9-Mile Bank west of San Diego, according to For The Win, which described spinetail devil rays as exceedingly rare off Southern California. Spotter pilot Carl Sbarounis also shared footage of several of the rays, the outlet reported, adding a second vantage point to the unusual encounter.
The rays belong to the species Mobula mobular, which can measure up to 9 feet across and weigh more than 400 pounds, per the same account. They're recognizable by dark bands across their heads, and while they're common off Mexico, including the Sea of Cortez, their appearance this far north stood out to observers on the water.
Warm Water Fuels a Tropical Shift
Sea surface temperatures have approached 80 degrees in some areas off Southern California and remain significantly above average, the report noted. Many people attribute the elevated temperatures to an intensifying super El Niño at the equator, according to the article, a pattern that has reshuffled marine life across the region for months.
The Windy.app page places the 9-Mile Bank roughly nine miles off the San Diego coast and describes it as an offshore fishing bank. Dorado and yellowfin tuna were among the first notable exotic fish encountered off Southern California this summer, the article states, and hammerhead sharks — more commonly found in tropical waters — have also been sighted off the region in recent weeks.
San Diego charter captains have reported an unseasonal cast of visitors this summer, including bluefin, yellowfin, yellowtail, dorado, bonito, bass, barracuda, and halibut, according to Captain Clowers Fishing. The unusually warm conditions have coincided with the appearance of warm-water species in the Southern California Bight.
An Endangered Species With a Fragile Future
The 2025 IUCN assessment lists spinetail devil rays as critically endangered globally, and the species has experienced documented declines throughout most of its range, per Manta Trust, as cited in the article. International trade has increased demand for dried gill plates of mobulids, the outlet reported, and that demand has greatly affected devil ray populations even as the animals occasionally extend their range into warm temperate latitudes like Southern California.
Part of what makes the species so vulnerable is its slow reproduction. Spinetail devil rays produce only a single pup per litter after an extended gestation period, and their low productivity heightens the population threats they face under intense fishing pressure, according to PMC. The rays are ovoviviparous filter-feeders with among the lowest reproductive rates of any marine elasmobranch, which means even localized bycatch events can carry outsized ecological consequences.
Despite their size, the rays are surprisingly athletic. They typically feed near the surface on zooplankton and krill using leaf-shaped filter plates on their gill arches, but satellite tracking has recorded dives exceeding 1,100 meters, or more than 3,600 feet, according to Fishes of Australia. Those deep-diving abilities haven't shielded the species from overfishing throughout its habitat, a pressure the article says continues to drive down numbers globally.
A Tangled Taxonomic and Regulatory History
The species carries a complicated scientific past that helps explain its current legal status. A 2017 taxonomic revision formally merged what had been treated as two separate species, Mobula japanica, the spinetail devil ray, and Mobula mobular, the giant devil ray, into a single circumglobal species, according to background compiled on Wikipedia.
That taxonomic shift had real regulatory consequences. In November 2020, NOAA Fisheries published a 90-day finding declining a petition to list Mobula mobular under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The finding discussed the species' broad circumglobal taxonomic range.
Even without an ESA listing, the rays aren't unprotected. Mobulid species receive international trade protections under CITES, according to the IUCN. More recently, NOAA Fisheries proposed a rule in August 2025 under ICCAT Recommendation 24-12 that would prohibit U.S. vessels from retaining any mobulid rays, including spinetail devil rays, in highly migratory species fisheries — a response to the severe mortality mobulids face as incidental bycatch in commercial longline and purse-seine operations.
Part of a Bigger Pattern Along the Coast
The devil ray sighting comes amid the broader wave of tropical marine life reported along the coast this summer.
The devil ray sighting comes amid other unusual marine encounters in Southern California this summer. In August, warmer Pacific waters were tied to a rise in hammerhead sightings and stingray strikes when a great white circled a swimmer at Topanga Beach. Together with this week's devil ray sighting, these encounters reflect unusual marine activity along the coast.
