Can a Wearable Band Help Avoid Being Eaten by Sharks?
The Company SharkBanz has created an active shark deterrent for humans to wear when swimming in dangerous waters. The band is using a patented magnetic technology which requires no active power or charging. Based on their reviews it appears to be gaining popularity among surfers and divers.
Sharks have the strongest electroreception (sensitivity to electrical fields) in the animal kingdom. They use this unique capability to navigate at night, when in murky water, and to hunt. Their electroreceptors (Ampullae of Lorenzini) and lateral line canals connect to the seawater by pores on their snouts and other zones of the head. When a fish swims, or even moves its gills, it creates a change in the surrounding geomagnetic field that sharks can detect with these electrically sensitive, gel-filled canals. Since the shark is tuned to be looking for very weak electromagnetic signals from its prey (heartbeats, muscle movements), this organ is highly sensitive. When encountered in the wild, the Sharkbanz field is exponentially greater than anything the animal will have experienced before and highly unpleasant. This tells the shark it is definitely not food.
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