Sharks! Does the color of your gear matter?

[MNScuba]

I decided to go with yellow accent on my gear (yellow snorkel, mask, fins, etc) because that's what I thought I would look cool in (why else!). Anyway, I was reading an issue of the DAN magazine this morning on my way to work and it said to avoid contrasting colors because sharks see contrasts very well. This makes me a little nervous! Black/Gray with Yellow is quite a contrast! However my LDS told me to go for the yellow so you're not all black and look even more like a seal.

Is there an advantage one way or the other? Are people just guessing at what a shark thinks?

Here's my semi-educated opinion without having ever been anywhere near a shark:

If a shark wants to bite you, it will.
If you provoke it, you increase your changes.
If you feed it, you increase your chances.
If you touch it, you increase your chances.
If you thrash around wildly, you increase your chances.
If there are many, you increase your chances.

Some good points were brought up in the article that made a lot of sense...
1. You wouldn't walk up to a bear in the woods and pull its tail.
2. You wouldn't go in the jungle with a steak around your neck.

 

[dc4bs]

As I understand it, most sharks have somewhat poor vision.

They hunt by smell at long distance. EG: blood, etc in the water.

Next they track vibrations in the water as they move closer. Strugling, wounded fish are prime targets.

Even closer in, they follow electrical disturbances in the water. They have organs along the sides of the nose that can sense the electricity from your nervous system when they get close enough.

Last, they only really use their eyes AFTER they have decided to attack for final adjustments to their aim.

Then at the last second, on many species, eyelids close to protect the eyes and they just bite whatever happens to be in front of them.

Once a shark has gotten to the final aiming part, I guess you might make it a bit easier for it by having the sharply contrasting colors, but I don't think you would be more likely to provoke attack based only on the colors you wear.

Hey anyone: is this still the current thinking on sharks or am I behind the times (yet again)?

 

[Scubaroo]

I do remember seeing underwater footage during the whole recent sharkfeeding debate of an investigative journalist who decided to go on a sharkfeeding dive for himself - he couldn't dive very well and was waving his ungloved hands everywhere trying to steady himself - surprise surprise he got bitten on his hand, which even in the very blue washed out UW video showed up brightly in sharp contrast against the rest of his black gear. In the video the shark makes two lightning quick bites at his hand from different directions, from the way it bit his hand twice (the second time after he pulled it in against his chest) it appeared that the shark was biting the "light colored moving thang" in front of its face, most likely mistaking it for a dead fish being handed out by the feeder.

Anyway if I ever go on a sharkdive I'll be wearing my black gloves, just so they look less like food

 

[VTWarrenG]

I think there are many other behavioral habits that are much more relevant to risking shark bites than the color of your gear. Murdock, I think you said it well with your list of "chance increasing behaviors." If they don't do any of those, I'd imagine a guy in yellow gear and a guy in black gear bear a statistically identical risk.

The same thing happens with cars: some people say silver cars (like mine) are the hardest to see on the road, and therefore the most likely to get involved in accidents. While silver cars are undoubtably harder to see than yellow cars, we all agree that proper driving is far more important to avoiding accidents than is the color of the car.

Personally, I choose colors that make myself easily identifiable to other divers. I've always been of the opinion that the only really dangerous creatures underwater are DIVERS -- sometimes you, sometimes your buddy, sometimes other divers. My buddies can easily recognize me by my green mask and fins, bright blue weight belt, and 7' yellow primary hose. If the sharks find me tasty because of my colors, it'll be unfortunate -- but losing a buddy is a much more precient concern to me.

- Warren

 

[MNScuba]

Good point... and that's another reason I chose the hi-vis yellow on all my accessories. I guess for the most part, I'll be more worried about Muskies and Gar than sharks... and neither of those scare me too much, yet. I suppose a musky could be almost as dangerous as a baracuda if you think about it...

That's a whole new thread!

 

[vr]

There is a lot of misinformation about sharks and some of it gets repeated even by reputable organizations. Few stop to think about what they are saying and most treat all sharks as being similar.

dc4bs is correct, most sharks do have poor vision. The majority of the ones divers would be wary of have visual perception but not acuity. They will make out shapes and outlines okay, but not be able to discern details. Remember that unlike most land creatures (above the level of insects) vision is not a primary sense for sea creatures. It is a secondary or even tertiary sense, used for close up encounters.

The great white shark is an exception. It has both acuity and perception and has better vision than most sharks. It also seems to be somewhat attracted to the color yellow, leading to it being nicknamed yum yum yellow many years ago.

We've learned a lot more about sharks since that colorful nickname was created, including a bit more about the great white.

The good news is that you are not a big fishing lure with fins because of your yellow gear.

There are other factors that play a much greater role in the few instances of shark attacks on divers. In fact, many are under low visibility conditions.

THere are some potential advantages to yellow accents. After orange, yellow is the color most easily seen by rescuers. Should you drift away from your boat or otherwise be separated, those yellow accents could enhance your ability to be seen.

 

[VTWarrenG]

bengiddins,

That's an excellent thought-provoking reply! Now that I think about it, I've only had one encounter with an underwater animal that wanted to eat me (a 6' barracuda), and he went straight for my bright green fin. I'd suppose their being bright green and moving a bunch make them the preferred target. Now that I think about it, I kinda like the thought that my feet are my most obvious feature, rather than my head.

If I see a shark and fear being bitten, I think I'll probably just sink like a rock to the bottom (at that point, screw the coral -- just watch out for poisonous things), and lay as motionless as possible. I'd imagine sharks are more interested in fun things moving about in the middle of the water column.

- Warren

 

[vr]

Originally posted by bengiddins
he... was waving his ungloved hands everywhere trying to steady himself - surprise surprise he got bitten on his hand, which even in the very blue washed out UW video showed up brightly in sharp contrast against the rest of his black gear.

It was the waving that was the trigger of the attack, not color. From what I've read, shark dive operators caution participants to keep their hands close to their bodies and not to extend them, certainly not to wave them.

In a somewhat similar vein, many people mistakenly believe a red cape triggers a bull to attack (in bullfights). It is the waving of the cape that stimulates the bull. The red is for the audience. Bulls are color blind.

The difference is that many sharks do see color, unlike bulls, though it is still the waving that was the cause of the attack.

 

[MNScuba]

Great, now I am paranoid about ever going in the ocean with my YELLOW gear. So, after the Great White grabs my mask off my head, the fins off my feet and then my snorkel I should be ok... But that would leave me with no head or feet.... hmmm, I don't like this scenario! I might as well put on a seal suit and spray some attractant on myself to get it over with quicker!

LOL...

If I see a Great White come at me I'll just poke 'em in the eyes.
(And then get a clean pair of shorts.)

 

[Scubaroo]

vr,

I was referring more to a moving brightly "contrasting" object (ie diver's pale skin) rather than a difference in "color". Of course the hand waving attracted the shark, but the fact that his hand looked akin to the bright fish being handed out by the nearby feeder wouldn't have helped. If he'd been wearing black gloves his hands would have been much less noticeable - you would have had to have seen the video to understand how much his hands stood out compared to the rest of him. Sort of like the little glowing blob some deep-sea angler fish use on that rod above their mouth! They were just inviting a bite if he moved them.

Back to Murdoch325's question, the only "color" consideration I'd make is having my gloves the same color as my wetsuit, preferably black, so that they don't look like bait while we're moving them about I also have yellow fins, mostly for visibility reasons, as I do a lot of low-light kelp diving - they're very easy for a buddy to pick out in the gloom, plus they make great emergency signalling devices if you wave them above your head. Personally I'd be more worried about some idiot ignoring a dive flag and running me over in a speedboat than being bitten by a shark, but if I ever go on a sharkdive, I'm wearing my black gloves.

Ben