According to the team's calculations, surfing the updraft allowed the sharks to conserve at least 15 percent of their normal swimming energy expenditure.
With this monitoring data, the researchers were able to confirm that the sharks do indeed choose to hang out in updraft currents during the day, adapting their position to best minimize energy expenditure.For instance, during incoming tides, which have stronger updrafts, the sharks group tightly together and display the conveyor belt shuttling behavior more strongly, and go deeper where the current is a little weaker.