Sea secrets surface in the Great Australian Bight

Oceanographers have discovered more about why the eastern Great Australian Bight supports a year-round abundance of marine predators, including different whale species and white sharks which attract cage divers and filmmakers inspired by the Hollywood blockbuster Jaws. For the first time, Australian experts led by Flinders University have described substantial subsurface phytoplankton layers deep beneath the eastern part of the Bight — which serves to support the rich marine biodiversity even when the surface phytoplankton blooms disappear at certain times of the upwelling season.