Maybe it’s climate change, El Niño, or just plain old good luck.
Regardless, anglers aboard the San Diego-based sporting boat Excel have hauled in a trio of extremely rare opah, reports GrindTV. Armando Castillo, Joe Ludlow, and Travis Savala landed opah weighing 151, 180, and 124 pounds respectively. This is a huge deal considering that opah aren’t generally found in Southern California waters, and they don’t generally swim in schools. Opah, also known as moonfish, sunfish, kingfish, and redfin ocean pan, are generally limited to a circumglobal distribution in the Southern Ocean. They’re also becoming increasingly popular in sushi markets.
Experts think the opah hauled aboard by the Excel moved into Southern California waters because of warmer water temperatures. We’ve heard preliminary reports and predictions about exotic fish moving into local California waters, and it looks like these are accurate after all.