In a three-year study, Australian scientists have shown that gray sharks that live near the coral reefs of Palau, in Micronesia, change their behavior on full moon nights in spring and summer. Specifically, following 39 females of the Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos species, they observed that, while in winter they remain close to the surface (descending to a maximum of 35 meters), when the ocean waters warm and the full moon shines in the sky, these Sharks dive deeper , swimming more than 60 meters below the surface. On new moon nights, however, they remain in shallow waters.
The authors of the work, published in the journal PLOS ONE , suspect that following the lunar cycle helps sharks use less energy , find food easily and avoid other predators. And they assure that the lunar brightness could affect the movement of all the great fish, including tuna and swordfish.
