Scientists reveal secret White Shark Cafe

Sc=entists have uncovered a secret "White Shark Cafe" in the m=ddle of the Pacific Ocean

=lice Truong https://qz.com/author/atruongqz/ =/span>1 min=te ago

About 1,200 nautical miles=east of Hawaii lies a patch of ocean that researchers had thought to be a d=sert of sorts. But for reasons unknown to them, each winter, great white sh=rks would leave the food-abundant waters along the US and Mexican west coas= for a sojourn in the middle of nowhere.

H=ping to uncover the secret lives of the mysterious great white shark, scien=ists at Stanford University and the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California led=an expedition to what's been dubbed the White Shark Cafe http://www.white=harkvideo.com/white-shark-cafe.html . Their month=ong journey this past April and May helped them discover this area, roughly=the size of Colorado, is actually teeming with "tiny light-sensitiv= creatures so tantalizing that the sharks cross the sea en masse to reach t=em," reports the San Fran=isco Chronicle https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Mysterious=great-white-shark-lair-discovered-in-13234068.php . The waters are also rich in squid, bigeye tuna, blue an= mako sharks, and other fish.

https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/white-shark-c=fe.png?w=620&strip=all&quality=75

=hitesharkcafe.com http://whitesharkcafe.com

Lo=ation of White Shark Cafe.

Stanford marine scientist Barbara Block had discovered the sharks'=hidden hangout, the largest known congregation of white sharks, 14 yea=s ago after she started attaching tracking tags to the animals. Over the ye=rs, the data collected revealed that like clockwork the great white sharks w=uld go on an annual pilgrimage in December to this area of the Pacific that=satellite imagery had suggested was barren. The tracking tags helped the ex=edition locate the sharks this past spring and track their movements. They a=so revealed unusual diving behavior that isn't entirely understood y=t.

During their stay in the Pacific, the s=arks kept to a surprising schedule. In the daytime, they would dive down to=1,400 feet—to an area known as the mid-water that's on the a=ge of complete darkness and is populated by bioluminescent fish—and=ascend to shallower waters, around 650 feet below the surface, every night.=/p>

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"It's the largest migratio= of animals on Earth—a vertical migration that's timed with=the light cycle," Salvador Jorgensen, expedition leader and Montere= Bay Aquarium scientist, told the Chronicle. "During the day they g= just below where there is light and at night they come up nearer the surfare to warmer, more productive waters under the cover of darkness."</=

While it's believed the sharks ventu=ed down to the darkness to hunt for larger fish drawn to the bioluminescenc=, researchers haven't been able to explain another behavior they ob=erved only in male sharks. During April, the males would each travel i= a V-shape pattern as many as 140 times a day. It's unclear if the b=havior is related to mating or if they are hunting for different species of=fish. Scientists hope to gain some clarity after analyzing the data they co=lected.

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