ACCORDING to a recent discovery, great white sharks are partial to old fashioned Aussie hard rock music, in particular that of legendary band AC/DC. Hells bells…
In a story recently reported in The Advertiser and since picked up by a number of US websites, Matt Waller, a tour operator specialising in great white shark encounters has discovered the sharks are attracted to music by the Australian rockers. Curiously, the great whites also seem to prefer a driving bass line over berley.
Several times a week Waller’s Adventure Bay Charter company cruises to Shark Bay, south of Port Lincoln, to view great whites which are attracted to the thumping beats of classic killer tracks such as Shook Me All Night Long and the aptly titled If You Want Blood, You’ve Got It.
Waller says he discovered the unusual attraction when taking tourists out on “swim with great white sharks” trips.
“We know the AC/DC music works best by trial and error, and we are doing more research to see what works best with different species of shark,” he says.
Waller did some internet research to find what companies use to help repel sharks.
“I asked a couple of them how to attract sharks and they said they hear best at frequencies from 20 to 1000 hertz,” Waller says.
“Quite often we see the sharks on the surface, but most of the time our guests want to get in the cage and see them up close. I’ve seen the sharks rub their faces on the cage where the sound is coming from as if to feel it.”
Waller believes the attraction of sharks to AC/DC has much to do with the low frequency range of their music, which is compatible with the very sensitive hearing of sharks.
The behaviour might also tie in with the practice of Pacific Islanders who attract sharks by rattling coconut shells together underwater.
