Drawback to a brightly colored wing

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rvojr

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Location
Williamstown, NJ
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Recently I took a rescue class where the instructor said it is not a bad thing to be very visible as opposed to all black. Are there any drawbacks to using a brightly colored wing such as white (I question how long it would stay that way) or yellow (also available in multicam, blue, red and some others)? My first concern is probably not valid but I can not help but think a giant green or blue wing makes me look like a turtle. Any chance of attracting animal attention by being brightly colored?
 
Probably non below 20m or so as light penetration gets worse. K
 
I can't say that the chances of attracting animal attention are zero, but as someone who studies the sensory ecology of animals, I certainly wouldn't think twice about using a brightly colored wing.
 
I can not help but think a giant green or blue wing makes me look like a turtle. Any chance of attracting animal attention by being brightly colored?

Waiting for the turtle humping story....
 
The only reason that I’m hesitant to wear brightly colored or white gear these days is that I do a lot of diving with sharks. I believe that though sight is only one of the senses that sharks use to identify prey, some species such as Tiger Sharks see contrast quite well and find that attractive. I’d prefer not to have an article on my body that appears as “fish belly white”.

There are some local operations that offer baited shark dives, and at least one of them prohibits the use of white or bright, light colored suits or gear. I also cannot think of any of my hunter friends who wear anything white or light colored.

Conversely, I used to teach at a resort which supplied all of their instructors with bright white BCDs. These made us very easy to see while leading divers even in relatively poor visibility and I never had any qualms about wearing the vest that was issued to me. Hunting activities were not offered at the resort and as far as I’m aware, nobody had any issues at all regarding unexpected attention from the fauna. Likewise over the years I’ve been on dive boats with literally tens of thousands of divers, many of whom had yellow or neon green alternate second stages, and cannot think of a single occasion when these led to undesirable interactions.
 
As @OceanEyes mentioned, I once dived with an op who would not permit anything but black and low contrast color items on the dive. Yellow octo hoses had to be tucked away a certain way as there was no way around that one. Granted, it was a shark dive, but that is something to keep in mind. It might not apply to you at all but if it does, be prepared to rent or not be able to use that specific item in the water on those dives. Other than that, I can't think of anything else.
 
Look up the term "Yum Yum Yellow".
Brightly colored gear is often times harder to photograph as it can reflect strobe light back at the camera. The same goes for bright dive lights.
I knew a couple who wore white fins. After every warm water trip, they were multi-color from all the coral they were dragged over.
 
Look up the term "Yum Yum Yellow".
Brightly colored gear is often times harder to photograph as it can reflect strobe light back at the camera. The same goes for bright dive lights.
I knew a couple who wore white fins. After every warm water trip, they were multi-color from all the coral they were dragged over.

And there’s a local guy whenever he’s on the boat that uses my white fins to set his camera’s white balance. :D
 

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