Sharks Prefer to Sneak Up from Behind

[cronus]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 141627.htm

Sharks Prefer to Sneak Up from Behind

Dec. 5, 2013 — "Never turn your back on a shark" is the take home message from an article published in Springer's journal Animal Cognition. Erich Ritter of the Shark Research Institute and Raid Amin of the University of West Florida in the US contend that sharks can comprehend body orientation and therefore know whether humans are facing them or not. This ability helps sharks to approach and possibly attack their prey from the blind side -- a technique they prefer.

To hunt successfully a predator needs to correctly perceive the body form, size and movement of its potential prey. Studies confirm this is also true when sharks hunt. Descriptions of a shark's approach to typical prey, as well as humans, indicate that these predatory fish prefer to avoid the field of vision. In other words, a shark would tend to approach a person from behind. These observations underlie the yet-untested assumption that sharks are able to identify human body orientation and can use such information in a self-serving manner.
Ritter and Amin therefore set about to deepen the understanding of how sharks select an approach pattern when interacting with humans. A test was designed to evaluate if sharks show a measurable preference based on body orientation when approaching a person, and if they choose a certain swim pattern when close to a human being. In one experiment, a diver in full scuba gear was positioned on the sea floor in a kneeling position, looking forward. In another, two divers kneeled back-to-back to eliminate the blind area.

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[FBM]

Fuggin' hell. So I'm a shark after all.

[cronus]

Jaws is wrong.

[Tero]

It's pretty much the rule. Raptors do it too. Once they've blown cover, blue jays and crows mock them.

[Seabass]

Jaws is wrong.

It's true. Clearly, this should have been his them song:

[Blind groper]

I think I am one of the very few people of this forum to actually see a shark underwater. Over the years, while scuba diving, I have been privileged to see 23 different species of sharks. So I can speak with more authority than most.

Certainly sharks prefer to approach from behind. Every animal on sea or on land prefers not to be seen by another animal which is of unknown capabilities.

That does not, though, indicate the shark is a threat. In my extensive experience, very few sharks will even allow me to get close, whether from in front or behind. They prefer to keep their distance or flee in panic. I have scuba dived while accompanied by sharks of the "worst" man-eating types. Great white, bullsharks, oceanic white tip, tiger etc. None have been seriously aggressive. Even the bull sharks, except when they are being fed with fish scraps, will keep their distance.

Shark attacks rarely happen to scuba divers. They more commonly happen to surfers. This is because surfers create a splash like a wounded fish, and surfers stay in dirty water, where the shark cannot see what is causing the splash, so they just strike.

[Hermit]

Shark attacks rarely happen to scuba divers. They more commonly happen to surfers.

On a per capita basis more abalone divers get attacked by sharks than surfers, at least in Australia. At any rate, the chances of being killed by one is tiny. The casualty rate here is barely above one per annum. In comparison, we have 20 fatalities caused by horses in the same time span and around 1500 in traffic accidents.

[JimC]

...and say boo!

[Robert_S]

And apparently the left side as well.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I have scuba dived while accompanied by sharks of the "worst" man-eating types. Great white, bullsharks, oceanic white tip, tiger etc. None have been seriously aggressive particularly hungry.

[mistermack]

The message is simple.
Have a cap with false eyes on the back of your head, and huge painted teeth too.

But box jellys aren't so easily put off.