How a Blue shark sees your lure
Which lure colour a Blue shark can actually see, at your depth and in your water. 1 cone types, peak 532 nm. Ranked contrast for 54 colours.
Prionace glauca
Measured for this species This fish is colour-blind Tapetum lucidum
Cone peaks are direct measurements for this species. The rest of the model — water optics, contrast, detection distance — is still an estimate, and none of it predicts whether a fish will strike. It has a tapetum lucidum — a reflective layer behind the retina that roughly doubles photon capture — which is why it feeds so well at dawn, dusk and in stained water. Hart et al. (2011) found only a SINGLE cone type in every shark species they examined. Sharks are almost certainly colour-blind: they see one channel of brightness. So this app gives you no colour ranking for a shark, because there is nothing to rank — what matters is how bright or dark the lure is against the water, and nothing else. Anyone selling you a shark lure on its colour is selling you a colour you can see and the shark cannot.
Spectral sensitivity
| Cone peaks | λmax | Chromophore |
|---|---|---|
| Medium | 532 nm | A1 |
| Rod | 500 nm | A1 |
Rods do the work at dawn, dusk and night — which is when most people fish.
Lure table
Ranked by how much each colour stands out to a Blue shark in these conditions. — Oceanic I, 101 m.
| Colour | Contrast | Seen from | Fish view | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White | 98 | 49 m | Buy now | |
| 2 | Glow Glow finish — not modelled | 96 | 47 m | Buy now | |
| 3 | Sexy shad | 95 | 48 m | Buy now | |
| 4 | Silver holographic Metallic finish | 95 | 47 m | Buy now | |
| 5 | Bone | 93 | 46 m | Buy now | |
| 6 | Chartreuse / white Fluorescent finish | 92 | 49 m | Buy now | |
| 7 | Chrome Metallic finish | 92 | 45 m | Buy now | |
| 8 | Blue / white | 91 | 49 m | Buy now | |
| 9 | Pink / white Fluorescent finish | 89 | 49 m | Buy now | |
| 10 | Blueback herring | 89 | 48 m | Buy now | |
| Stands out least | |||||
| Orange craw | 35 | 15 m | |||
| Brown / orange | 34 | 15 m | |||
| Brown | 33 | 15 m | |||
| Olive | 22 | 11 m | |||
Contrast quoted at 1.0 m viewing distance. · Light that survives best here: 470 nm
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This fish is colour-blind — It has only one cone type, so it sees a single channel of brightness. Colour rankings are meaningless for it — what matters is how light or dark your lure is against the water.
Beyond the model’s range — Below about 60 m the daylight assumptions in this model stop holding. Read these numbers as indicative only.
Get these colours
The three that came out on top, searched on your own Amazon. The ranking above is worked out from the water and the fish, before any of these links exist.
Affiliate links: we earn a commission from Amazon, at no extra cost to you. The ranking above is not for sale.
Gear this page implies
- A lure kit with a spread of colours See on Amazon
The point of knowing which colour wins is having it in the box.
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What this water lets through
The clearest ocean there is. Deep blue, and blue penetrates furthest by far.
Water types
Target species
Questions people actually ask
Can a Blue shark see colour?
It has only one cone type, so it sees a single channel of brightness. Colour rankings are meaningless for it — what matters is how light or dark your lure is against the water.
Where does this data come from?
Direct microspectrophotometry, ERG or behavioural spectral sensitivity for this species.
Sources
- Hart, N.S., Theiss, S.M., Harahush, B.K. & Collin, S.P. (2011). Naturwissenschaften 98, 193–201 — microspectrophotometric evidence for CONE MONOCHROMACY in sharks.