Pharyngeal cavity and the gills are the target organ for the repellent action of pardaxin in shark
Primor, N.. Experientia, 1985
Pack Vibes The Only Fish a Shark Can’t Attack (And Why We Can’t Copy It)
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For 17 hours, two whitetip reef sharks tried to eat this fish. It had no armor, no venom, and no way to get away. But it never got bitten.
Where this comes from
5 sources
4 claims
Every claim below links to the sources behind it. Peer-reviewed research and public records come first.
3 Peer-reviewed 2 Reporting 1 Reference
What the film says
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The Moses sole (Pardachirus marmoratus) of the Red Sea secretes a milky toxin from the bases of its dorsal and anal fins that repels sharks.
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Eugenie Clark, known as 'the Shark Lady', discovered the Moses sole's shark-repelling secretion and did much of the early research on it.
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The secretion's best-understood component is pardaxin, a 33-amino-acid peptide that disrupts cell membranes, causing leakage.
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Samuel Gruber was among the later researchers on shark repellents.
Sources
Peer-reviewed
From Bench to Bedside: A Comprehensive Study on Pardaxin Peptide's Antimicrobial Effect on Escherichia coli, Including Clinical Isolates
Aminnia, P.; Sharifi Niknafs, A.; Doustdar, F.. Archives of Razi Institute, 2024
Supports the 33-amino-acid length, Moses sole origin and membrane disruption.
Pardaxin increases solute permeability of gills and rectal gland in the dogfish shark (Squalus acanthias)
Primor, N.; Zadunaisky, J. A.; Murdaugh, H. V.; Boyer, J. L.; Forrest, J. N.. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology C, 1984
Reporting
Eugenie Clark – The Shark Lady
Ashley Gallagher. Smithsonian Ocean
Reference
History of Chemical Shark Repellents
SharkDefense
Archived copy (Wayback Machine); company-published history with references.
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