Scientists discover surprising way great white sharks prep for coastal storms

As humans continue their attempts to mitigate Mother Nature with storm prep, marine animals are following their own extreme-weather protocols.A recent study explores the behavioral responses of juvenile great white sharks to an encroaching storm.

In 2023, scientists from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) monitored the response of 22 juvenile white sharks as Storm Hillary drew closer to the California coast.Using acoustic tags, the Elstner and his team tracked the movements of the apex predators before, during, and after the tropical storm.

“To our knowledge, this is the first study to document storm-response behaviour in white sharks,” said study author and PhD student Jack Elstner, in a press release. The researchers found that more than half of the sharks deserted their nursery grounds off the coast of Torrey Pines and Del Mar in northern San Diego to seek safer, more sheltered waters, returning only after the coast had cleared.“Many sharks in this nursery temporarily left the area as the storm arrived or just after,” explained Elstner, After this exodus, many made their way to the more protected La Jolla Cove, which is situated next to a prominent submarine canyon, giving sharks quick access to deeper water.“We believe this more sheltered habitat may have served as an important nearshore refuge for some individuals,” said Elstner.

One deep diving youngin was recorded swimming to a depth of 433 feet, likely an attempt to flee rough condition at the surface of the sea.“The fact that some sharks ‘tucked’ into the less wave-active La Jolla Cove during the storm was an interesting finding,” says co-author Chris Lowe, leader of the Shark Lab at CSULB.

“We think that some were seeking shelter from the storm.”The team believes that a change in temperature in advance of the storm may have told the sharks it was time to go.In a single day sea-surface tem...