Did you know that in the ocean, there are animals that can “sense” your presence without seeing or smelling you? It’s not magic… it’s science! Elasmobranchs possess a mysterious “sixth sense” that allows them to detect all living beings, including divers!
All sharks and rays in the ocean belong to a subgroup of fish called elasmobranchs. In addition to having a flexible skeleton made of cartilage, unlike other fish, they are also the only animals on the planet with Ampullae of Lorenzini, named after the scientist who first observed them in the 17th century, Stefano Lorenzini.
The Ampullae of Lorenzini are a unique sensory organ that enables them to detect the ocean’s electric fields.
These electroreceptors consist of canals filled with a gel that is an excellent conductor of electricity, opening through pores in the skin, often near the mouth.
The other end of the canal (the internal end) connects to small sacs containing sensory cells (the Ampullae themselves) directly linked to the animal’s nervous system. When electrical signals are detected through the skin’s pores, they travel through the canals to the Ampullae, where the information is transmitted via the nervous system to the brain. This is how they can perceive even the slightest electrical changes in their surroundings.
You might be wondering, how do they detect prey? Well, it turns out that all living organisms generate magnetic fields around them, especially when muscles contract.
During movement, when muscles and nerves are active and functioning, electrical fields are generated. Since saltwater is an excellent conductor of electricity, variations in these electric fields propagate easily, and sharks and rays can perceive them, even if the prey is buried in the sand.
In fact, the location of the pores depends on the species. For example, sharks typically have them near the mouth to hunt more effectively, even in zero visibility water. In contrast, many rays have them distributed across their bodies, especially on the back, to detect when a predator is behind them.
But that’s not all. For sharks, these organs not only help them find food but also assist in navigation during their long migrations, following the Earth’s magnetic field and the electric fields of ocean currents, as if they had an integrated compass. Additionally, some scientists believe that this sixth sense also enables them to communicate and interact with each other.
What do you think? Had you heard about this sixth sense of sharks? Remember, the next time you dive with them, even if you haven’t spotted them yet, they have already detected you.
Now that we’ve talked about sharks, are you eager to dive with them? If so, here are some of our destinations where you can enjoy shark dives.
– Azores with the blue shark: The Azores archipelago is the ideal setting to dive with the blue shark. Being the most abundant species in the world, in the volcanic islands of the Azores, you can enjoy them underwater as if they were your pet.
– Palau: The paradise of sharks: Palau is a little-known paradise for divers, where the main stars are the sharks: reef sharks, tiger sharks, hammerheads… And if you’re lucky, even the leopard shark awaits you in these Pacific waters. If you want to know more, click here.
– The home of the thresher shark: Malapascua, Philippines. This small Philippine island is world-renowned in the diving community for a famous inhabitant of its waters: the thresher shark. If you also want to meet this unmistakable predator, we have scheduled trips to the Philippines.
– Galápagos: top diving destination worldwide. If you’re into strong emotions, you must visit the Galápagos Islands, where you can dive with all kinds of sharks, as well as endemic species like the marine iguana.
– The realm of the Great Hammerhead in Bimini, Bahamas: In the well-known Bahamas islands, you can enjoy the Great Hammerhead, as well as other sharks like the tiger shark at one of the best spots to see them, Tiger Beach.
– A unique destination: Jardines de la Reina. In the Cuban archipelago lies possibly the best-preserved marine site in the Caribbean, the secret of Jardines de la Reina, where you can dive with bull sharks, blacktip sharks, nurse sharks, and even the American crocodile!
– The unparalleled French Polynesia: In this paradisiacal destination, besides being one of the few places in the world where you can come face to face with humpback whales, you can also enjoy dives surrounded by sharks: reef sharks, grey sharks, lemon sharks… What are you waiting for?
