are people with black skin not attacked by sharks?

Question

many years ago i heard this.

Answer 1

I for one, see this is as a legitimate question, assuming you know that humans are attacked because we look like seals. If you didn't know this, this rumor is racist. But if you did, seals underbellies are sometimes white, so this might be where this myth came from. (Note I say might, it could still be racist, because many seals are dark all over).

Sharks attack humans flapping around because we look like seals. But since they are coming from below, all they see is a silhouette, so everybody looks the same (there is actually one shark that avoids being seen from below because it emits a glowing light, therefore preventing a silhouette, and just blends in with the surface, which I think is uber-cool).

Answer 2

It probably makes no difference at all, since a shark attacking from below would see the person in silhouette and have no information about skin color. But if there is a difference at all, I would expect people with dark skin to be attacked more, because the most human-like normal prey of sharks are seals, most of which have dark skin.

Answer 3

It's not the skin colour that matters (unless they're naked) but the colour of what they're wearing. Looking around the web it seems that there's some disagreement about this. A lot of diving sites say that sharks are attracted to high contrast so anything bright and/or light would be more likely to bring on a shark attack than dark colours.

Answer 4

I think people with black skin are also being attacked by Shark because they are also moving objects and they generate heat that attracts the sharks

Answer 5

Not likely since (1) sharks find their prey mainly by smell; (2) one of the principle foods of large sharks is sea lions, which have dark skin; and (3) sharks attack divers wearing dark-colored wetsuits, probably because they mistake the divers for sea lions.

Answer 6

Who ever told you that, was making fun of you! Sharks attack all kind of people all over the world. They don't care about age or color. They are prehistoric beings.
You should know there are all kinds of sharks. Not all of them eat people.
People eat sharks ( shark vin soep), and some sharks had to be protected otherwise they would deseapear.
Think about it.

Answer 7

How many black Olympic Gold Medal winner swimmers do you know of? They don't go into the water because of crockodiles. It's the same reason they produce so many good runners, getting away from Lions! I'm going to get a violation for this aren't I!

Answer 8

depends if they have any traces of blood on them - I don't think sharks are fussy on melanin levels in the skin.....

plus sharks attack from below - regardless of your skin colour, against the bright sky, there will be a distinctive figure, showing up against it.

Answer 9

I am not trying to be racist, but when sharks attack people, they usually mistake them for a seal, because seals underbellies are white.

Answer 10

Sharks are like cancer... they dont choose by creed, religion, color or race. Whoever told you this was an idiot... and I hope you did not believe such a silly thing either.