Some of the shark sense — particularly smell , taste , and hearing — are famously acute . But around one sense , visual sense , the argument has been much more woolly . So just how well does a shark really see ?
Shark biologists Lisa Natanson and Cami McCandless from NOAA ’s Apex Predator Programjoined us today to take our questionsabout the life and physiology of shark — including this one on the power of shark to perceive colour :
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Hi Lisa & Cami , thanks for taking the time to suffice our questions .
I ’ve take somewhere that shark peradventure colour blind and by bust wetsuit that matches the colouration of the ocean ( dark-green - blue here in Southern Cali . ) will make you less likely a target for the sharks . Any truth to this ?
Lisa
I have not read this research however it is theorise that the shadows are really what sharks are on the observatory for . Many fish have whitened / atomic number 47 undersides and glum backs , this is so that from below they blend in against the igniter of the aerofoil and from above they coalesce in with the darkness from the deepness . If you call up of the colouration of a cachet it is much like the drear color of the ocean and shark can certainly see them . So I would not really bet on that idea .
Even fructify aside the government issue of color cecity , however , it seems that we would do well not to underestimate the seeing abilities of sharks .
The Florida Museum Of Natural Historydescribes the eyes of shark as being not so very unalike to our own — like our eyes their school-age child open and close and the core parts are the cornea , iris , lens and retina . There is however one rather unbelievable exclusion , that may make their visual modality more catlike than anthropomorphic :
Sharks , similar to cats , have a mirror - same layer in the back of the eye refer to as the tapetum lucidum . This layer further increase the intensity of incoming ignitor , enhancing the eye ’s sensitivity to light . Although it was once thought that sharks had very poor visual modality , we now hump that shark have sharp vision . Research has shown that shark may be more than 10x as raw to spark as humans . scientist also believe that sharks may be far - sighted , able-bodied to see intimately at length rather than shut - up , due to the structure of the center .
Image : White Tip Reef Shark /NOAA
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