Nurse Shark is a docile species that is also nicknamed the ‘couch potatoes of the ocean’. This species scours the sea floor looking for small fish, crabs, snails and even lobsters to suck up. They can be found in warm, shallow waters in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Offspring of these sharks can change color on the basis of the amount of sunlight they are exposed to. These babies have polka dots on their skin. Fully grown individual are usually brown but they can also be grey or yellowish.
Fast Facts: –
- These sharks spend much of their time on the sea floor in tropical waters around coastal shelves, reefs, and channels.
- These bottom dwellers have small mouths. This is the reason they are unable to consume large fish.
- The average life span of the nurse shark is up to 25 years in captivity.
- The Scientific name of the Nurse Shark is Ginglymostoma cirratum.
- The nurse shark is the only shark in the Atlantic Ocean with barbels around its mouth.
- These barbels help them to find their prey easily.
- Females have a gestation period of around 6 months and on average, 30 pups are born at once.
- They have extremely large tail fins. Their tail fins measure approximately 2 to 3 feet.
- This is the most common species of shark which is found in the tropics.
- These sharks generally sleep together in very large groups. These groups can contain up to 40 individuals.
