Last month, marine biologist Luke Tipple, armed with a career in the study of sharks, accepted the request from handheld laser manufacturers, Wicked Lasers, to attach a Wicked Lasers laser beam to a shark’s fin, which he did with success. On a diving trip in the Bahamas, he fit a laser device onto a lemon shark’s dorsal fin and tested the shark’s movements. 

 

Lemon sharks are a popular choice of scientists; Tipple says he chose a lemon shark for its swimming behavior, which is predictable and docile during the day. The lemon shark offered easy access in shallow water, another plus. The shark he chose was an adult male, about seven feet in length.

 

Tipple said that clipping the laser onto the dorsal fin and flipping on the laser was easy, although the shark didn’t like it when Tipple first attached the clamp. He said a few seconds later “it returned to normal behavior.”

 

The Wicked Lasers device that he used was a waterproof, modified, S3 Krypton product. The company said that the device used by Tipple was the lowest-powered version of its S3 Krypton green laser line. It was a 50-milliwatt laser.