Sport fishermen and whale watchers have been getting an unexpected treat recently.

A slew of rarely seen fish and sea mammals like yellow fin tuna, hammerhead sharks and Bryde's whales have been turning up in local waters.

Typically, these animals live further south or far off shore, but researchers think the warmer water associated with a developing El Niño climate pattern is bringing them here.

Related: Are brown pelicans forecasting an El Niño?

Sam McClatchie with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says right now the coastal water is about 4 to 5 degrees F higher than average.

“You can feel that it’s warmer, it’s definitely more comfortable.”

These conditions are great for a variety of typically tropical swimmers like blue and yellow fin tuna, needlefish, sei whales, false killer whales and humpbacks.

In fact, all of these species have been spotted recently around the region in greater than usual numbers.

Related: Study finds that whales serve as ocean's 'ecosystem engineers'

But whale researcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger says these animals probably didn’t come north just for the cozy waves.

“Everything is basically about food," she remarked. "Where are you going to find the food?”

Schulman-Janiger thinks the emerging El Niño system likely first warmed up waters off the coast of Mexico earlier in the year.

Sensitive small creatures like krill and anchovies probably escaped the rising heat by heading north to California's relatively cooler ocean, she explained.

“If the prey moves northward into cooler water, large predators might be expected to move up.”

This has been the case during previous El Niño events.

She notes that during an El Niño in the early 1980s, bottlenose dolphins moved up the California coast, reaching as far north as Monterey Bay.

"So we may be getting animals into the area who find food and decide to stay, she said."