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PHOTOGRAPHS BY FIONA AYERST, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
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Already swift and powerful, great white sharks (pictured above) have another weapon: They can change their color.
That ability to camouflage, perhaps an aid to sneaking up on prey, has been detected in studies by researchers in waters off South Africa.
“We wanted to trick these shark cells into thinking they were getting some kind of stimulus, like the sun or an emotional stimulus [such as seeing potential prey] to see if we could get them to change and become lighter or darker,” says shark scientist, geneticist, and Nat Geo Explorer Gibbs Kuguru. "Not only did it work, but it was a swinging success.” (Pictured below, biologist Ryan Johnson, Kuguru, and a colleague prepare to lower a breaching sled into the water.)
Read the full story here—and see more on Camo Sharks, a new show airing as part of SharkFest on National Geographic Networks and Disney+.
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