In addition, the liver is a source of oil and vitamins, and the thick, tough skin is made into leather products. They are bottom-dwelling fish, living at a depth appropriate to their size. The nurse shark eats bony fish, rays, invertebrates and also seaweed and carrion. It has been reported in some unprovoked bites on humans but is not generally perceived as a threat. With its barbels and highly-developed sense of smell, it can find prey hiding in the sea floor. International Union for Conservation of Nature, 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T41835A10576661.en, "Shark feeding in Kimberley ends with painful lesson after Perth woman bitten", Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyology Department, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tawny_nurse_shark&oldid=932025647, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 22 December 2019, at 23:11. The eyes are small and face laterally, with prominent ridges over them and smaller spiracles behind. It is found widely along coastlines in the Indo-Pacific, preferring reefs, sandy flats, and seagrass beds from very shallow water to a depth of 70 m (230 ft). Individual sharks have small home ranges that they consistently return to each day. Facts: History and Science Facts for Kids. It lives on the seabed and in shallow coastal waters, from the intertidal zone down to 130 metres. Their slow speed makes them quite easy to catch. Scyllium ferrugineum Lesson, 1831 Their young cannibalize each other, and the larger pups will eat the underdeveloped ones. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. Nurse sharks have been observed resting on the bottom with their bodies supported on their fins, possibly providing a false shelter for crustaceans which they then ambush and eat. These activities are gradually putting pressure on the species. Nurse Shark Habitat The nurse shark is found in geographical distribution along tropical and subtropical coastal waters of the Eastern Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, and Western Atlantic. There is no record of a fatal attack from a nurse shark to date. However, it should be accorded respect due to its powerful jaws and sharp teeth. As the shark ages, the teeth become relatively taller and thicker. The gestation period is six months, with a typical litter of 21–29 pups. You can find it in the Western Atlantic, from the Caribbean to Rhode Island and on to southern Brazil. They consume a wide variety of fish. Nurse shark is bottom-dweller that spends its life in the shallow waters near the coral reefs, on the sand flats and around the mangrove islands. The origin of the first dorsal fin is about even with the origin of the pelvic fins, while the origin of the anal fin is even with or somewhat behind the origin of the second dorsal fin. Due to their lower metabolic rates as well as their ability to have relatively larger litters of pups that grow faster compared to the offspring of other sharks, they are often one of the most common shark species in tropical to sub-tropical waters. Nurse Shark native habitat, distribution, behavior & aquarium compatibility. It is not taken as a game fish. 12. Its common habitats are reefs, channels between mangrove islands and sand flats. Though they have small mouths, that won’t stop them from seizing chunks of prey with their teeth and shaking their heads violently to reduce the size of each piece. [9] The tawny nurse shark is the only carpet shark in which there is oophagy: once the developing embryos exhaust their supply of yolk, they gorge on eggs produced by the mother and acquire the distended abdomen characteristic of such oophagous embryos. Localized declines or extirpations of the tawny nurse shark have been documented off India and Thailand. The Nurse Shark is a large shark species, but one that is seen in the aquarium trade due to its relatively slow swimming style and its somewhat docile demeanor and lifestyle. Males attain sexual maturity at a length of 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in), and females at a length of 2.3–2.9 m (7 ft 7 in–9 ft 6 in). They like to dwell on the sea floor in warm, shallow waters. Nebrodes concolor ogilbyi Whitley, 1934 They are 12 inches long at birth and covered with light-colored spots. Scymnus porosus Ehrenberg, 1871. He also notes that most public aquaria are not interested in taking specimens that have outgrown home aquaria and that they should never be released into the wild. [2], The tawny nurse shark grows to a maximum length of 3.2 m (10 ft). Nocturnal in habits, the tawny nurse shark tends to spend the day resting in piles of two dozen or more individuals inside caves or under ledges. The nurse shark is not widely commercially fished, but because of its sluggish behaviour it is an easy target for local fisheries. However, the skin is very tough and is used for high-quality quality leather products. They possess a spotted coloration which fades with age. Tawny nurse sharks are yellowish, reddish, or grayish brown above and off-white below, and are capable of slowly changing their color to better blend with the environment. Nurse shark moves slowly, sluggishly and hunts alone. Commercial fisheries do not commonly hunt the nurse shark. The nurse shark lives close to the coast in tropical waters. [6], The tawny nurse shark is widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific region. [5] It has a robust, cylindrical body with a broadly rounded and flattened head. The nurse shark has a broad head, a small mouth with rows of serrated teeth and a tail fin that is almost a quarter of its entire body length. The tawny nurse shark was first described by French naturalist René-Primevère Lesson as Scyllium ferrugineum, based on a 1.4 m (4 ft 7 in) long specimen from New Guinea.
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