New research suggests that LED lighting on the underside of surfboards or kayaks could reduce the risk of great white shark attacks by disrupting their ability to identify prey. Even sharks think modern LED lights are just too damn bright.
A study led by Dr. Laura Ryan at Macquarie University in Sydney tested the idea by using illuminated seal-shaped decoys positioned around Mossel Bay, South Africa. This area is teeming with sharks. She found that when the underside of the decoy was lit up with bright LED lights, the sharks were much less likely to attack or even pay much attention to it.
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Great white sharks heavily rely on their vision to hunt. They need visual cues of movement to determine where their prey is and where it’s going. Making the underside of the decoy bright as all hell essentially camouflages the potential prey against the light of the surface. The best lighting arrangements were incredibly bright LED lights. Strobe lights were less effective since the sharks could still identify the prey during those brief windows when the lights were off.
All this is good news if you’re a surfer. Next time you’re shredding in shark-infested waters, a board rigged with cheap LED lights could end up being a lifesaver. Bad news if you’re a seal that does not have immediate access to an Amazon account with which to buy LED lights.
Dr. Ryan’s research suggests that sharks aren’t even particularly fond of the taste of humans but attack because they have a hard time distinguishing between human swimmers/surfers and seals. This is especially true of juvenile sharks, which tend to have poor visual acuity and a more limited perception of color. Dr. Ryan and her team are now using their research to build a prototype surfboard outfitted with LED lights to help fend off hungry sharks.
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