London, Jan 20 (IANS) Wearing a light blue wetsuit against a blue sea will make you less likely to become the victim of a shark attack as they are completely colour blind and only see things clearly if they are mostly light or dark, scientists say.
In a breakthrough that could prove hugely beneficial to divers navigating shark-filled waters, scientists found that the predator is unable to distinguish between colours, the German nature journal Naturwissenschaften reports.
It can only see in black and white, so swimmers would be best off wearing a light blue wetsuit that matches the colour of the water, reports the Daily Mail.
Costumes or wetsuits that camouflage swimmers’ bodies in the sea water are less likely to draw a shark’s attention than ones with bright, solid colours that emphasise their outline.
‘It’s the high contrast against the water rather than the colour itself which is probably attractive to sharks. So you should wear perhaps more muted colours or colours that match the background in the water better,’ said University of Western Australia’s Nathan Hart.
‘It may now be possible to design swimming attire that has a lower visual contrast to sharks and is therefore less attractive to them,’ said Hart, who led the study.
The researchers examined the eyes of dead sharks and found they had only one type of photoreceptor in the retina, indicating they could only see in monochrome.
Humans, and most other fish, have several types of photoreceptor, allowing them to distinguish between colours.
