Mysterious great white shark lair discovered in Pacific Ocean

A scientific mission into the secret ocean lair of California’s great white sharks has provided tantalizing clues into a vexing mystery -- why the fearsome predators spend winter and spring in what has long appeared to be an empty void in the deep sea.

A boatload of researchers from five scientific institutions visited the middle-of-nowhere spot between Baja California and Hawaii this past spring on a quest to learn more about what draws the big sharks to what has become known as the White Shark Cafe, almost as if they were pulled by some astrological stimulus.

The sharks’ annual pilgrimage to the mid-Pacific region from the coasts of California and Mexico has baffled scientists for years, not just because it is so far away -- it takes a month for the sharks to get there -- but because it seemed, on the surface, to be lacking the kind of prey or habitat that the toothy carnivores prefer.  See link below for full story.

Another version of this story is on Live Science.