What Is The 'Lunar Effect,' And What Does It Have to Do With Shark Attacks?

There are strange things that can happen when the moon is full. Oysters are close. The corals are spawning. Zooplankton dive deeper. Birds are on the shore. The lions hunt less.

Some of these behaviors are tied to the moon and the tides. Some have no explanation at all.

More than 50 years' worth of shark attack data shows that sharks bite humans more when the Moon is full.

It's not a matter of more light for sharks to see. Steve Midway from Louisiana State University says that most shark attacks occur in the daylight.

What is it? We don't know. The relationship could be random, or it could be a result of the 'lunar effect'.

There is a correlation between the activity of plants and animals on Earth and the phases of the Moon.

That might sound weird, but there's good reason to think that an invisible string from our nearest neighbor is puppeteering life on our planet.

The exact way in which this happens is still a mystery.

sharks are influenced by the moon and their movements are tied to it.
The sharks are not the only big animals changing their behavior. Surfers are the most affected by shark attacks, and the best conditions for surfing tend to occur around the full moon.

It would be good to know how we are triggering such aggression, if that is the case.

The authors write that the results are the first global evaluation to report any evidence of shark attacks correlated to moon phase.

It's important to note that shark bites are very rare. These fish are apex predators in the ocean. Many species are moving closer to more populated areas because of population declines.
Humans have swam with sharks without incident a lot more often than we realize, as shark attack incidents are increasing with increasing numbers of people in the waters with them. Sometimes sharks mistake humans for prey, but they are not known to target humans as prey.

Midway says it's worth looking into because there is a chance of reducing harmful interactions here.

The risk of unfriendly encounters can be reduced by swimming in groups and avoiding the water at dawn and dusk.

The study was published in a journal.