HONOLULU — Researchers with the University of Hawaii have captured hours of shark-cam video that reinforces the fear tiger sharks strike in other animals.
The video cams of different shark species off the Oahu coast have provided insights about survival behavior, including animals relying on each other for protection, KITV reported.
“It seems to be the case, that nothing really seems to want to hang out with a tiger shark,” said Carl Meyer, a researcher with the university’s Institute of Marine Biology.
Researchers say sandbar sharks, Galapagos and hammerheads prefer to swim together despite being different species to guard themselves against the fierce predators.
“So by being in a school of sharks you decrease your odds of being the one that’s being caught when a big tiger shark comes through and wants to eat you,” Meyer said.
Tiger sharks also congregate in schools to survive.
“It stays together throughout the day, but then they gradually swim higher and higher like a tornado of sharks, until sometime in the later afternoon or evening, then they go off on their own to do their own thing,” Meyer said.
Scientists also have turned to technology developed in Hawaii. They insert a 4-inch device into the sharks that enables them to monitor digestive behavior before the devices are regurgitated and float to the surface.
Meyer said researchers download the information to determine how often sharks are fed and to get a sense of how much they have been eating.
Researchers hope to expand their studies to sharks in Maui waters.