Recently, an Australian clothes making firm based in Sydney created what they advertised as 'Shark Proof Bathing Suits'. With financial backing from local universities, the firm created two types of these bathing suits. So what are these bathing suits with the ability to repel sharks? What abnormal powers do they possess? To be honest, they are but regular bathing suits but with what the creators see as a touch of genius: different colours. That is all. So what do these colours do to make them different from your bog-standard, common or garden (or is that lake or ocean?) bathing suit? Well, the first is dark blue which supposedly makes the person donning the swimming costume invisible to sharks. Nice try, but with one tiny problem: sharks don't just use their sense of sight, but they sense movements in the water around them and smell what they think might be prey. So has the second got anything better than the first? Well, the answer is it is even worse. The second has black and white stripes which are to make the person wearing it look similar to a belcher sea snake (a poisonous marine creature). This takes advantage of the shark's bad eyesight, as they won't realise that the person is much larger than a sea snake. Again, there is a slight problem: sharks love to eat belcher sea snakes.
So there you have it; don't trust the bathing suits. And to the makers, I say "Back to the drawing board, bonkers boffins!!"
Sunday, 21 July 2013
The Longfin Mako Shark
Almost as rare as the megamouth, the longfin mako shark is found in the deep sea, near to six hundred metres below the surface, in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. Sadly, they do not tend to stray as far as Britain. Despite being very rarely seen and one of the most little known about sharks still in existence, they are nonetheless truly fascinating creatur
There have been no recorded attacks on humans by longfins, as they hardly ever mix with the creatures of the Sunlight Zone. Their diet consists of small fish, diamond squid and deep sea jellyfish, this mix of food leaves them smaller than other sharks, but a sustainable meal in the Twilight Zone and Dark Zone where they live is very hard to come by. However, this lack of food may just give them the edge over the sharks of the Sunlight Zone when it comes to hunting. Their senses are sharpened by hunger and when they have to find their food, they rarely fail.
So we have covered the prey of the longfin, but now we turn to the predators. With the absence of killer whales and omnivorous, cannibalistic sharks such as tigers, great whites and bulls, the longfin mako shark has only two predators: deep sea fishermen and the majestic and mysterious giant squid, terroriser of the deep sea and ruler of the dark water. They kill with silence and without mercy. As with most of the creatures from the Dark Zone, they are not fussy and eats whatever it finds. Longfins are no exception. Their powerful petorcal fins (which give them their name) and sharp teeth are no match for the giant squid's tentacles, suckers, unimaginable strength and sheer size. As was mentioned above, deep sea creatures are not fussy. This makes them easy prey for fishermen who only have to drop their lines baited with rich, Sunlight Zone fish such as tuna and chum for many unsuspecting, malnourished fish (and evidently sharks) to come knocking.
There have been no recorded attacks on humans by longfins, as they hardly ever mix with the creatures of the Sunlight Zone. Their diet consists of small fish, diamond squid and deep sea jellyfish, this mix of food leaves them smaller than other sharks, but a sustainable meal in the Twilight Zone and Dark Zone where they live is very hard to come by. However, this lack of food may just give them the edge over the sharks of the Sunlight Zone when it comes to hunting. Their senses are sharpened by hunger and when they have to find their food, they rarely fail.
So we have covered the prey of the longfin, but now we turn to the predators. With the absence of killer whales and omnivorous, cannibalistic sharks such as tigers, great whites and bulls, the longfin mako shark has only two predators: deep sea fishermen and the majestic and mysterious giant squid, terroriser of the deep sea and ruler of the dark water. They kill with silence and without mercy. As with most of the creatures from the Dark Zone, they are not fussy and eats whatever it finds. Longfins are no exception. Their powerful petorcal fins (which give them their name) and sharp teeth are no match for the giant squid's tentacles, suckers, unimaginable strength and sheer size. As was mentioned above, deep sea creatures are not fussy. This makes them easy prey for fishermen who only have to drop their lines baited with rich, Sunlight Zone fish such as tuna and chum for many unsuspecting, malnourished fish (and evidently sharks) to come knocking.
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