Species distribute themselves in the environment to maximize fitness, within their physiological and ecological constraints. The influence of dissolved oxygen and temperature on habitat use in marine systems, as well as their interactive effects on metabolic activity, all considerably impact habitat availability. Yet, despite their importance, a species’ physiology is rarely directly considered in species distribution models for marine species. We used species distribution models following boosted regression tree frameworks to evaluate the inclusion of dissolved oxygen and the Aerobic Growth Index (AGI; a metric for metabolic demands) for predicting habitat suitability of immature shortfin mako sharks (Isurus oxyrinchus) in the California Current System and adjacent waters using tracking data from 2003-2015. Model performance was assessed using the True Skill Statistic (TSS), Area Under the receiver operating Curve (AUC), and Percent Deviance Explained. Relative to distribution models solely considering traditional environmental predictor variables, we found that dissolved oxygen and the AGI considerably improved immature mako shark species distribution model predictive performance (ΔTSSdissolved oxygen = 0.099; ΔTSSAGI = 0.09; ΔAUCdissolved oxygen = 0.053 ; ΔAUCAGI = 0.050) and explanatory power of the distribution of shortfin mako sharks (Δ% Deviance Explaineddissolved oxygen = 10.8; Δ% Deviance ExplainedAGI = 10.2). While the AGI had similar performance to models considering dissolved oxygen, species habitat predictions including the AGI uniquely predicted low habitat suitability in regions known to be metabolically stressful for the species, the Pacific North Equatorial Current. Ocean warming and deoxygenation are inextricably linked, which will have direct impacts on metabolic habitat viability, thus appropriately accounting for these changes together will result in improved understanding of current habitat availability, climate-ready management tools, and robust conservation planning.