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Diving Deep for Dinner

August 4, 2018

Sharks and other large predators may be using swirling pockets of unusually warm water to access food in the ocean twilight zone. In a recent study, researchers from WHOI and the University of Washington found that tagged white sharks in the North Atlantic were diving deeper and staying down longer in warm, clockwise rotating currents called anticyclonic eddies. These eddies peel off from the edges of the Gulf Stream, trapping warm water at their center and swirling it downward, potentially helping sharks save energy as they hunt in the ocean depths. (Illustration by Natalie Renier, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Creative Studio)