A one-of-a-kind orange shark is discovered: Scientists reveal the reason of its unusual color
Fisherman discovered a unique shark in the waters off Costa Rica.
On a routine fishing trip in the crystal clear waters of Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica, unsuspecting fishermen saw their jaws drop to the floor when they hauled in a huge, orange fish.
The giant, tangerine animal was not somebody’s goldfish that had escaped through the toilet tubes and out into the sea, but a one-of-a-kind nurse shark.
“We saw an orange glow below the water and I said, ‘My God, what is this?’” Garvin Watson, 43, a sport fishing guide and hotel owner, told the New York Times. “We were all screaming like crazy.”
The fishing group published the photos on social media, where it quickly caught the attention of the scientific community.
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“I saw the photos and I was impressed,” Daniel Arauz Naranjo, a marine biologist and executive director of Costa Rica’s Rescue Center for Endangered Marine Species, told the New York Times. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is something strange.’”
The scientists investigating the case of the orange nurse shark — which is a largely docile species — published their conclusions in the peer-reviewed journal Marine Biodiversity.
They say that the fish had what is known as xanthochromism, a condition — hardly ever seen in fish — which causes the loss of darker pigments, and a stronger prominence of yellow/orange pigments. They add that the animal even had white eyes, a potential sign of albinism.
Such conditions in animals are rare; brighter colours are usually easier targets for predators, making adult specimens even more unique in the natural world. Nurse sharks are normally brown, which helps them to stay hidden as they forage on the seafloor for bottom-dwelling invertebrates such as crabs and lobsters. “This guy was lucky to have lived in this environment and to not have run into any other larger sharks,” Arauz Naranjo said.
“I find it amazing that at this point in time somebody can still go out to sea, near the coast, and discover something that hasn’t been recorded for science yet,” Mr. Arauz Naranjo added. “The sea still has surprises for us.”
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The shark was released back into the wild by the fishermen right after they caught it; scientists are hoping to visit the area in order to conduct more studies.
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