Surfers may have to give up the traditional black wet suit if they want to reduce their chances of being bitten by a shark. New research has shown that sharks are color blind, so a bold black screams ‘pick me’, while a delicate shade may not.
“Although they are sensitive to certain parts of the spectrum more than others, they don’t distinguish colours,” says Nathan Hart of Western Australia University. “So brightness, contrast, shades of grey is what they see.” International figures show the majority of attacks happen to people in black wetsuits.
Research in the 60s suggested sharks were attracted to yellow. “People used to believe that bright yellow westuits were called ‘yum yum yellow’ so avoid ‘yum yum yellow’ wetsuits,” says Andrew Christie, Kelly Tarlton’s curator. Looks like blue or green is your best bet.
