Mysterious "shark lair" turns out to be epic buffet
by from on (#3Z17R)
The sharks' annual pilgrimage to the mid-Pacific region from the coasts of California and Mexico has baffled scientists for years, not just because it is so far away - it takes a month for the sharks to get there - but because it seemed, on the surface, to be lacking the kind of prey or habitat that the toothy carnivores prefer.But the researchers made a remarkable discovery. Instead of blank, barren sea, the expedition, led by scientists with Stanford University and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, found a vast community of tiny light-sensitive creatures so tantalizing that the sharks cross the sea en masse to reach them.