This is a good question. Arguably, the best sense of a shark is their hearing. They have a remarkable sense of smell but some species can hear miles away. My first inclination is that sharks will want to check out the origin of the sound, i.e. sound of bubbles from divers. What happens next, depends on the species and location of the animal. A bull shark, that is significantly more aggressive (by testosterone levels) than humans; or an oceanic whitetip, might have a greater tendency to come check it out. On the contrary, a more skittish species may investigate but then retreat before we can view them. Also the geographic location of where the diver is will influence the shark's behavior. If you are diving in an area like Cocos, Costa Rica or an area know for shark finning/human predation, then that might lead to a timid behavior. If you dive in a marine protected area in which divers act all the time with sharks and they are habituated, then that shark might have a propensity to come closer and interact more. Additionally, let me offer this...if I'm in Africa, specifically South Africa, I would much rather be scuba diving versus snorkeling because I do resemble the locomotion shared by sea lions, what they are habituated to. In short, it depends on a multitude of factors to say what a shark is going to do. They have been on Earth a lot longer than we have and primitive/survival instincts will play a vital role. I hope this helps![FONT=____noteworthy]Hi my dive center sales person told me that it was safer in a way to scuba dive than regular swiming in terms of sharks because the scuba gear scares the sharks off they don't like the loud beating sounds in all the bubbles and the tapping and such. Is this true.
[/FONT]-Jonathan Bryan
Divesummit.com
Diver since 2012
Favorite quote: "Tropical coral reefs are to SCUBA diving what alpine peaks are to backpacking.
Reefs are the highlights, the places where equipment manufacturers strut their stuff, and photographers shoot magazine covers.
