Surfing might not be so scary after all.

Two Australian businessmen, with a little help from a university research project, have released “the first shark-repellent wetsuits.” The project, which follows a wave of shark attacks in Western Australia, has been designed by using new scientific insights regarding a shark’s perception of light and colour blindness.

There are two designs that have been made to camouflage those involved in water activity. The first is named the Elude and this design is constructed so that it makes divers look less visible to sharks. The second is the Diverter and it is made out of black and white stripes, apparently making the surfer look like he or she is “not good to eat.”

Shaun Collin, a University of Western Australia researcher:

Many animals are repelled by a striped pattern which indicates the potential prey is unsafe to eat

Craig Anderson, one of the two entrepreneurs said that the Elude wetsuit “creates confusion for the shark’s visual systems.” According to an article by the BBC, the Western Australian government funded the tests with dummies and tiger sharks off the coast. During this testing process the tiger sharks apparently swam around the dummies wearing the Diverter suits and those with plain black suits (without the Diverter’s white stripes) were attacked.

It has been reported that more testing will be done off southern Australia and South Africa when the summer season begins.

[Source: BBC]