Researchers have uncovered an area located between California and Hawaii, where large amount of sharks make regular visits; they call it the “White Shark Cafe.”
The area, resembling the Sahara desert in an ocean, hosts tons of sharks during winter and spring, as if they were “pulled by some astrological stimulus.” The San Francisco Chronicle reports that this mystery has always puzzled researchers, finding no reason for sharks to undertake the long journey since fish were never found there. For years, sharks have been leaving fish-filled East Coast waters to travel to this area, spending months there, until they return to their place of origin. Barbara Block, researcher from Stanford, nicknamed the place “White Shark Cafe,” but didn’t know if the sharks traveled there for food or sex.
Researchers recently discovered that the area hosts a vast community of light-sensitive creatures, including fish and squid, that the sharks are very attracted to. There’s also a deep water portion of the ocean, known as “mid-water,” that the white sharks travel in, something that’s unusual considering that they need to be in higher and warmer waters in order to digest their foods properly.
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“The story of the white shark tells you that this area is vitally important in ways we never knew about. They are telling us this incredible story about the mid-water, and there is this whole secret life that we need to know about,” says Salvador Jorgensen, research scientist from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Despite all the studies and the attention that these white sharks have gathered, it’s still unknown what they’re doing there and why they love spending so much time in that area. One thing is clear: humans don’t want to visit a place where white sharks like to get together and do mysterious things.
