New research finds sharks love jazz music

A study has found that sharks prefer jazz to classical music.

The study - which trained baby Port Jackson sharks at Australia's Macquarie University Fish Lab - found that the creatures associated the music with getting food rewards.

Lead author, Catarina Vila-Pouca, said: "Sound is really important for aquatic animals; it travels well under water and fish use it to find food, hiding places and even to communicate."

However, the new research suggests that jazz is the only music genre of choice for sharks, as they under-performed when faced with a number of classical hits.

Associate professor, Culum Brown, explained: "It was obvious that the sharks knew that they had to do something when the classical music was played, but they couldn't figure out that they had to go to a different location.

"The task is harder than it sounds, because the sharks had to learn that different locations were associated with a particular genre of music, which was then paired with a food reward. Perhaps with more training they would have figured it out."

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