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.

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.

The great whites followed or attacked the unlit control dummies the most. They showed less interest in strobe-lit dummies and even less in dummies with vertical striped lights. However, the sharks still showed some interest. Probably, Ryan said ...