Congratulations on naming a Nurse Shark!
Hover over the hotspots to learn more
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Adult nurse sharks can grow around 5-8 ft (1.5-2.4 m)
Checkout their size compared to a 6ft diver!
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Unlike other sharks, they have the ability to buccal pump, meaning they do not need to swim to breath. They are often found resting on sandy bottoms of coastal waters
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While very poor eyesight, nurse sharks have barbels which are sensory organs on their snouts
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Nurse sharks do not have typical “sharky” teeth. Instead, they have crushing plates of teeth made to crush the hard shells of crustaceans
Want to know more about nurse sharks? Check out the following scientific publications:
- AtallahBenson L, Merly L, Cray C, Hammerschlag N (2020). Serum protein analysis of nurse sharks. Journal of Aquatic Animal Health. https://doi.org/10.1002/aah.10100
- Irschick DJ, Fu A, Lauder G, Wilga C, Kuo C-Y, Hammerschlag N. (2017). A comparative morphological analysis of body and fin shape for eight shark species. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society; blx088, https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blx088.
- Gallagher AJ, Skubel RA, Pethybridge HR, Hammerschlag N. (2017). Energy metabolism in mobile, wild-sampled sharks inferred by plasma lipids. Conserv Physiol; 5 (1): cox002. doi: 10.1093/conphys/cox002