Sharks! Does the color of your gear matter?

[Walter]

Actually the term "Yum Yum Yellow" was coined because it sounds better than "Yum Yum Orange." The "yellow" which seemed to attract attacks in the study was the orange of a typical life vest. It was used in the study to see if life vests might attract attacks.

DSSW,

WWW™

 

[ninja]

By no mean am i an authority on sharks and behavioural patterns with color and so on. But i have seen only 2 sharks on all my 8 trips to the carribbean and i've been to all sides of it. I would say not to worry about sharks here, but enjoy them if you do see them because they sure don't stick around.

Can't speak for the west coast or east coast of north america but i'm sure someone who locally dives there will pass on some info!


Ninja

 

[Hobbs]

well alot of talk about sharks so I figure this is the place to ask for "help".

First of all we dont have the great whit shark here in sweden, we basically dont have any dangerous sharks at all here!

but I know they hunt near dropoffs where they exist
I love diving on the dropoffs love the sight of the walls raising vertically above me.
BUT
I have no idea why I have this irrational fear of great whites
maybe its couse I saw JAWS when I was a kid maybe something else. I dont know, but what I do know is one of my greatest fears is to get eye to eye with a great white!

if I even thought for a second that there was a great white in the area where I was, I would buy sonar and spikes with directed explosive heads on to fasten all over my body like a hedgehog and rear view mirrors
if I could get a couple of self homing torpedoes to go with that I would love it.

This fear is totally irrational but what can I do? how can I get rid of my totally irrational fear ? I feal like I am a gigantik beat!

it is just in the beggining of the dive then I can put it to rest somewhere in the back of my head. but it will be back the next time I go diving on walls.

dive safe hire heavily armed bodyguards

 

[randyjoy]

Looks like I better sell my seal costume I've been diving in.

 

[Dee]

I've heard that wearing yellow makes you taste like chicken! :shark:

hee hee hee

 

[JustAddWater]

Since "the summer of the shark" we've heard much advice on how to avoid shark attacks. A few times I've heard that we should not wear jewelry when swimming or diving because it may attract sharks. A recent Skin Diver magazine had an article about a shark dive, and the writer indicated that he wore dark colored gear so to not entice the sharks. It seems plausable that the flash of jewelry or a bright color could cause a shark to confuse human with prey. But then again, I've heard opinions that dark wetsuits floating on the surface with a surf board could be confused with a seal. It is some comfort knowing that a diver's chance of being attacked is very low.
Card sharks, pool sharks, bar sharks, and lawyers- all very dangerous, regardless of what color you are wearing.

 

[gozumutti]

The black/yellow contrast is, on land, a natural warning signal: bees, hornets etc. There also non-venomous or non-dangerous animals/insects that copy this pattern in order to APPEAR dangerous to any predators. Many animals are color blind to some extent, but the contrast is what does it. I do not know how this mechanism functions in marine biology.

I like to have contrast-rich accessories under water in order to make identification easier for my buddy, and give no thought to sharks, because I am starting to doubt that I will EVER get lucky enough to see one!

 

[Aquamore]

I wear bumble-bee colours too and in response to your posting Sharks like sharkbait

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.

Sharkbait is white (just like my sun tan), and I think this picture shows another thing that causes sharks to bite

(White vehicles parked on their front porch).

Aquamore

 

[VTWarrenG]

Funny though.

 

[Aquamore]

It's every bit as real as this picture of my wife and myself diving nude on the Titanic!

:upset:

Huh.... fake indeed!

Aquamore