A study suggests that wrapping a surfboard in very bright lights — like aquatic Christmas trees — could make the surfer less interesting to great white sharks.

“We have shown these lights break up the silhouette of the surfboard into smaller pieces, and that’s clearly something that the shark doesn’t recognize as prey,” Hart said. “It’s sort of like an invisibility cloak but with the exception that we ...

Covering your surfboard in bright lights sounds like an open invitation to great white sharks, but research released Tuesday by Australian scientists found it might actually stave off attacks. Ryan and her fellow researchers showed that seal-shaped boards decked with bright horizontal lights were less likely to be attacked by great white sharks.