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The warm waters of Diablo Cove will be featured on the Discovery Channel for Shark Week on Wednesday night.
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In the documentary “Alien Sharks: Untamed America,” wildlife biologist Forrest Galante dives into Diablo Cove in search of the swell shark.
The film will also show Galante scouring the waters of Louisiana, Key Largo and Cape Cod for “America’s strangest alien sharks” to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday, according to the Discovery Channel.
The Shark Week Facebook page posted a preview of the film, which showed Galante jumping into Diablo Cove wearing scuba gear.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant releases 2.5 billion gallons of warm ocean water per day that was used to cool the plant.
The water released from the plant is about 19 degrees warmer than the surrounding ocean, which means Diablo Cove is about 4 to 13 degrees warmer than normal, according to previous Tribune reporting.
Now, warm-water fish species more commonly found off of Southern California frequent the cove — including young great white sharks, who prefer the warmer water as they lean to regulate their body temperature.
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Galante went to Diablo Cove with the hope of encountering a swell shark, which is usually found from Monterey Bay to southern Mexico and along the coast of Chile, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
While the swell shark is normally about 3 feet long, if it feels threatened, it bends into a U shape and swallows a large amount of seawater so it expands to about twice its size, according to the aquarium.
In the preview clip, a school of striped fish swam past Galante in the water while he admired a group of purple urchins clinging to a rock.
“This area with this hot water outflow has just created a spa for animals,” he said. “It’s a really unique ecosystem.”
Then, a shark swims by — and the music crescendos before the video clip ends.
The 42-minute documentary will air on the Discovery Channel at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Viewers can also stream the film on Max, according to the Discovery Channel schedule.
This story was originally published July 29, 2026 at 2:12 PM with the headline “Shark Week comes to cove at Diablo Canyon. Here’s how to watch.”
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