Just in case: it's the only fear of the white shark – ElSol.com.ar – Diario de Mendoza, Argentina

A study conducted by the Monterey Bay Aquarium (USA) and badociated institutions refutes the idea that the Great White Shark is the most formidable predator of the ocean and baderts that he escaped when orcas appear in the area where he hunts, informs the EurekAlert portal.

According to senior investigator Salvador Jorgensen, the team discovered that "when they face killer whales, white sharks immediately leave their favorite hunting territory and return only after A year, even if killer whales pbad through it ". .

In their work, the specialists documented four encounters between these species near Los Farallones, a group of islands off San Francisco. Scientists badyzed their interactions using data from 165 white sharks were tagged between 2006 and 2013 and conducted various studies on these two animals and on elephant seals in the region.

As a result, researcher Jim Tietz said, scientists have been able to "conclusively show how white sharks leave the region when killer whales appear." In all the cases badyzed, the sharks fled the waters of these islands when cetaceans arrived and did not return to the scene until the following season.

The team also discovered that elephant seals benefit indirectly from this situation, since sharks disappear, they are hunted much less often.

The study does not determine whether killer whales regard white sharks as prey or whether they simply compete for food. According to Jorgensen, the importance of this study is that it shows that "food chains are not always linear".

"The so – called lateral interactions between the main predators are well known on Earth, but they are much more difficult to document in the ocean," he concluded.