Do sharks really smell blood?

[CruisenFlamingo]

Or is that a myth. I mean if you say had a very small cut on your arm or something...and you were bleeding a little would it still be safe to snorkel or would you be drawing the sharks right to you?:o I feel a little embarrassed asking this but I'm really worried about it.

[cmdchiefthom]

CruisenFlamingo,

 

Not even the mythbusters can deny that some sharks can sense 1 part blood in a 100 million parts water from hundreds of yards away. Having established that fact, would you be in danger from a paper cut? Probably not. You would need to have a sustained bleeding wound that forms a fairly consistent trail directly to the source of the bleeding. So if you had a cut, had a dressing on it, and it wasn't absolutely fresh, I wouldn't be concerned. However, should you get a coral cut, or scrape an ankle on a rock, which tend to bleed, especially if you remain in the water, you might be tempting fate.

 

Now having said all that, it also depends on where you dive, and what types of sharks may be common in that area. Most sharks are as curious about us as we are about them. In the South Pacific, dives are oftem made through schools of dozens if not hundreds of sharks, without incident.

 

So my advice is to go ahead and snorkel and consider yourself lucky if you catch a glimpse of a shark, but use common sense if you have a cut or gash, and get it dressed.;)

[KrysyGT]

You'll be fine! I bashed the crap out of my pinky toe on a nasty piece of metal (ewww SCARY!) in Belize and lost the toenail before our excursion. It was a bloody mess and I am still here to tell the tale, and I do have all my didgets and limbs still :)

 

Though for some odd reason no one wanted to snorkel near me, especially when the nurse sharks were around.... can't quite figure that one out. :D

 

Thank goodness for my CC nurses who cleaned out my toe for me with hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes and saved my life! hahaha! MAN that hurt....

[dforeigner]

Not only can they smell it, but taste is as well.