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Nurse Shark
Threat Level: low
The Nurse Shark is also known as tiburon gato or cat-shark.
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NECKLACE CARPET SHARK
Scientific name...........Ginglymostoma Cirratum
Family name..............
- General Information: The Nurse Shark is a sluggish bottom dweller, that is rarely aggressive unless provoked. It has a stout body, obvious barbels, and strong jaws. Behind each eye it has a spiracle, a special organ that takes in water for breathing when the shark is at rest on the ocean bottom. It is a nocturnal hunter and often rests during the day. This is one shark that does well in captivity.
- Size: These sharks are 2-13 feet in length.
- Teeth: The nurse shark has thousands of replaceable, fan-shaped serrated teeth, that are capable of crushing shellfish.
- Color: The nurse shark is generally a dark brown-grey. some have speckles.
- Feeding Habits: Nurse Sharks eat bottom dwelling creatures like fish, shrimp, squid, octopus, lobsters and sea urchins. The barbels help them locate food at night, as they are vey sensitive to touch.
- Senses: The barbels on the snout are very sensitive to touch, and help this shark sus out food in the dark.
- Social Behaviour: Nurse Sharks gather in schools. Sluggish, they often rest during the day, sometimes piled on top of each other on the ocean bottom.
- Habitat | Migration | Distribution: Nurse Sharks live in warm, shallow waters to a depth of about 70 feet. They are common in corral reefs, and near mudflats and sand-bars. Nurse Sharks can be found in the western Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Pacific Ocean.
- Life Span: Undetermined
- Reproduction: Nurse Sharks are aplacental vivaparous
breeders. In aplacental viviparity, the eggs develop inside the
body after internal fertilization and hatch within the body of
the mother. Litters consist of 20-30 pups that are tiny replicas
of the adult.
Nurse Sharks mature at 15-20 years old.
- Swimming: Slow and lumbering swimmers most of the time, but can dart away when startled.
- Population Report: This shark is not endangered.