Great White Sharks Attracted To AC/DC

Just when you thought rock n’ roll was getting waaay too serious for a moment, along comes News Limited newspapers who have dredged up this wonderful gem for our enjoyment – apparently a South Australian tourism operator believes that Great White sharks are most attracted to the songs of one of Australia’s most iconic bands.

Eyre Peninsula shark cruise operator Matt Waller says his Adventure Bay Charter company takes tourists down to Shark Bay near the Neptune Islands, south of Port Lincoln, to swim in cages amongst the deadly predators; and that Acca Dacca songs such as ‘If You Want Blood’ and ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ with their low frequencies get the sharks most excited.

“We know the AC/DC music works best by trial and error, and we are doing more research to see what works best with different species of shark,” Waller says. It was through consulting experts that he hit upon the High Voltage Formula, which was clearly TNT, Dynamite with the sharks.  ”I asked a couple of them how to attract sharks and they said they hear best at frequencies from 20 to 1000 hertz,” he says.”Quite often we see the sharks on the surface, but most of the time our guests want to get in the cage and see them up close. I’ve seen the sharks rub their faces on the cage where the sound is coming from as if to feel it.”

Waller reckons that the sharks are attracted to AC/DC’s low frequency music (clearly he hasn’t heard the band’s ‘Thunderstruck’) because it appeals to their hearing which is most sensitive at that level. He also has a theory that it’s a very Australian version of the Pacific Islander practice of knocking together coconut shells underwater to attract sharks!