Nurse Shark

Nurse Shark

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8 pm

A Note From the Caretaker

Aquarium guests sometimes think this shark is in trouble when they see it lying on the bottom of the Shark Alley exhibit. In fact, this behavior is completely normal for this species, which is more active at night and (unlike some other species of shark) can breathe while lying still. Look for movement of the nurse shark’s gill slits as it pumps water over its gills to obtain oxygen.

Blacktip Reef Shark

(Carcharhinus melanopterus)

Horn Shark

(Heterodontus francisci)

Sand Tiger Shark

(Carcharias taurus)

Sandbar Shark

(Carcharhinus plumbeus)

Tasselled Wobbegong

(Eucrossorhinus dasypogon)

The Upland Tropical Rain Forest exhibit is temporarily closed through Fall 2022.
Nocturnal and generally slow and sluggish, nurse sharks spend much of their time resting on the ocean's bottom. They tend to rest in groups during the day, with up to 40 individuals piled on top of one another, and hunt alone at night. Unlike many sharks, this species is thought to be non-migratory—the nurse shark adapts to cold by becoming even less active!
The nurse shark is light yellowish-brown to dark brown, and some have small dark spots. It has a flattened body and a broad, rounded head with two conspicuous barbels between the nostrils, which it uses to find food. A nurse shark’s mouth is filled with rows of small, serrated teeth for crushing hard-shelled prey. Although they’re docile and mostly harmless to humans, they’ve been known to bite in self-defense.
Learn more about nurse sharks! Did you know this shark can use its large front fins to “walk” along the ocean floor?
Common in tropical and subtropical coastal waters of the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific, nurse sharks often inhabit reefs and rest during the day on sandy bottoms or in caves and crevices. They show a strong preference for certain resting sites, repeatedly returning to the same spot after hunting for food.
Although they are generally sluggish, nurse sharks slurp up benthic, or bottom-dwelling, organisms with amazing speed. They feed on spiny lobsters and other crustaceans, small stingrays, sea urchins, squid and bony fishes.
Female nurse sharks, averaging 7.5 to 9 feet in length and 165 to 230 pounds, are slightly larger than males.
Nurse sharks do not have special conservation status. Males reach sexual maturity at 18 years; females at 20 to 22. Females produce a litter of about 20 to 25 pups every other year.
No species is known to regularly prey on nurse sharks, although scientists have found evidence that they are sometimes food for other sharks, including lemon, tiger, bull and great hammerhead sharks.
As curator of Blue Wonders: Reefs to Rainforests , Jay Bradley oversees the care of all animals in Blacktip Reef , Living Seashore , Shark Alley and more.
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The National Aquarium—and the aquatic world—is full of amazing animals like this one.

These sharks can grow up to 6 feet long.

The horn shark gets its name from the short venomous "horn" in front of each of its dorsal fins.

This shark is easily recognized by its pointed snout and mouthful of narrow, pointed teeth, which are always visible.

These sharks have a large first dorsal fin, large pectoral fins and a mid-dorsal ridge.

The tasselled wobbegong is a bottom-dwelling carpet shark with a wide, flat body and head.

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Wes Pratt, Mote Center for Shark Research
Sharks range in lifestyle and demeanor from the fast, aggressive shortfin mako to the more relaxed and sedentary bottom dwelling sharks. Although all sharks are carnivorous, meaning they eat other animals, nurse sharks fall into a category of laid back, easy-going sharks that prefer to swim awhile and then rest awhile. Nurse sharks ( Ginglymostoma cirratum ) may in fact be considered the "couch potato" of the shark world. This label, however, is not meant to imply that their lives and behaviors are simple and always relaxed; quite the contrary! But they do slow down, swim locally, and associate — sometimes in cozy piles — with other similar-sized nurse sharks in the shallow warm seas they usually inhabit. Such behavior allows time for shark socializing and fosters the development of interesting group behaviors.
Wes Pratt, Mote Center for Shark Research
Nurse sharks are typically found in tropical to subtropical waters in coral and rocky reefs, on grass and sponge flats, and among the roots of mangrove shorelines. In warm tropical waters, they are common, mostly nocturnal, inshore, bottom-living sharks. The range of nurse sharks in the Atlantic Ocean extends from Rhode Island to southern Brazil, including the entire Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. In the eastern Atlantic their range extends from the Cape Verde Islands to Gabon along the African coast. Their range along the American Pacific coast from extends from Baja California in Mexico to Peru. In general, their depth range extends from the intertidal zone down to a depth of at least 40 feet.
Wes Pratt, Mote Center for Shark Research
Nurse sharks typically are born during the winter. They are about 1 foot in length at birth and grow 4 to 6 inches a year in length, less as they get larger. The time to reach adulthood and mating can be as long as 15 to 20 years, at which time they are 7 to 7.5 feet in total length. The maximum length recorded is 13 feet but no one has reliably measured a nurse shark longer than a bit over 9 feet. Although sharks are diminishing in number and the biggest ones are the hardest to catch, a few larger nurse sharks may still exist in remote areas as yet unnoticed by science.
Wes Pratt, Mote Center for Shark Research
Nurse sharks are easily identified by the small mouth located forward of the eyes and just under the broad snout. The mouth is bracketed by two sensory barbels. Most nurse sharks range in color from light to dark brown, though rare albino nurse sharks also exist. Young nurse sharks have little black spots along their backs. The ventral surface (belly) is a creamy white. The teeth are small but exceedingly sharp and, like the teeth of all sharks, are replaced by moving slowly forward as if they were on a conveyor belt. Older teeth slough off while the shark feeds and are replaced by sharper, slightly larger teeth.
Wes Pratt, Mote Center for Shark Research
The success of nurse sharks as a species results in part from a wide diet of fish and reef invertebrates, caught mostly at night by suction feeding in crevices. Young nurse sharks will patrol the flats day or night on a rising tide in search of foraging crabs and octopi. They hunt by brushing the bottom with the two oral barbels, often twisting back to lunge head first into the bottom in pursuit of prey. Water is powerfully sucked in through the mouth, with silt and sand puffing out of the gills as the tail slaps the surface. The shark's tough hide and smooth tile-like scales keep damage from impact to a minimum. Crabs, shrimps of all kinds, and lobsters are taken whole from under the reef. Nurse sharks will often snap the lobster's head off with a shake, consuming the tail immediately. Small conch also are a favorite; the sharks use their powerful jaws to break open the shells.
Wes Pratt, Mote Center for Shark Research
Knowingly or not, people swim near nurse sharks every day without incident. Attacks on humans are rare but not unknown and a clamping bite typically results from a diver or fisherman antagonizing the shark with hook, spear, net, or hand. The bite reflex is such that it may be some minutes before a quietly re-immersed nurse shark will relax and release its tormenter. The small teeth seldom penetrate deeply but are razor sharp. Holding still reduces damage to both shark and man. Leaving sharks alone is the best tactic.
Nurse sharks were caught in directed fisheries in the 1940s for their hides (shark leather) and liver oil and killed as by-catch in long lining and trap and net fisheries. They are regarded as too sluggish for sport fishing and are undesirable for food or the fin trade.
The flesh of sharks and other long-lived fish species concentrates mercury and other toxins and should be avoided. Nurse sharks have been kept by aquarists and researchers as they are hardy, live a long time, and are quick learners. However, keeping them in home aquaria is not wise as they will eventually reach 9 feet long! They are more valuable to all of us alive and free in the ocean.
More importantly, with the help of the nurse shark as an easily observed and studied species, we are learning the importance of sharks in tropical ecosystems. Their apex position in the ocean's energy flow makes them equivalent to the lions and tigers of terrestrial systems. By studying the nurse and other shark species, we are just beginning to understand how the life history and activities of these sharks is important in balancing oceanic food webs and keeping coral reef ecology healthy and diverse.

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The Nurse Shark is a common inshore bottom-dwelling shark, found in tropical and subtropical waters on the continental and insular shelves. The Nurse Shark is frequently found at depths of one metre or less but may occur down to 12 metres. Its common habitats are reefs, channels between mangrove islands and sand flats.
The Nurse Shark occurs in the Western Atlantic from Rhode Island down to southern Brazil, in the Eastern Atlantic from Cameroon to Gabon, in the Eastern Pacific from the southern Baja California to Peru and around the islands of the Caribbean.
Nurse sharks are light yellowish brown to dark brown, with or without small dark spots. The Nurse shark has a flattened body and a broad, rounded head with two conspicuous barbells between the nostrils which are used to help find food. Their mouth is filled with rows of small, serrated teeth for crushing hard-shelled prey. Female nurse sharks, average 7.5 to 9 feet (2.2 to 2.7 metres) in length and weigh 165 to 230 pounds (75 to 105 kilograms) and are slightly larger than male nurse sharks.
The estimated age of maturity for the Nurse Shark is 18 years for males and 20 to 22 years for females.
Nurse sharks are nocturnal animals, spending the day in large inactive groups of up to 40 individuals. Hidden under submerged ledges or in crevices within the reef, the Nurse sharks seem to prefer specific resting sites and will return to them each day after the nights hunting. By night, the sharks are largely solitary. Nurse sharks spend most of their time foraging through the bottom sediments in search of food. Their diet consists primarily of crustaceans, molluscs, tunicates and other fish such as spiny lobsters , crabs, shrimps, sea urchins , octopuses, squid, marine snails and bivalves and in particularly, stingrays.
Nurse sharks are thought to take advantage of dormant fish which would otherwise be too fast for the sharks to catch, although their small mouths limit the size of prey items, the sharks have large throat cavities which are used as a sort of bellows valve. In this way, Nurse sharks are able to suck in their prey. Nurse sharks are also known to graze algae and coral.
The mating season runs from late June to the end of July. Nurse sharks are ovoviviparous , meaning the eggs develop and hatch within the body of the female where the hatchlings develop further until live birth occurs. The gestation period is 6 months, with a typical litter of 21 – 28 pups. The mating cycle is biennial, as it takes 18 months for the females ovaries to produce another batch of eggs. The young Nurse sharks are born fully developed at about 30 centimetres long. They possess a spotted coloration which fades with age.
Generally slow and sluggish, Nurse sharks spend much of their time resting on the bottom of the ocean. 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. If it must move, the Nurse shark may even use its large front (or pectoral) fins to ‘walk’ along the ocean floor.
Because the Nurse shark can pump water over its gills, it does not need to swim in order to breathe, like other sharks do .
Unlike many sharks, the Nurse shark is non-migratory. The Nurse shark adapts to cold by becoming even less active.
The Nurse shark is not widely commercially fished, but because of its sluggish behaviour it is an easy target for local fisheries. Its skin is exceptionally tough and is prized for leather. Its flesh is consumed fresh and salted and its liver utilised for oil. It is not taken as a game fish. It has been reported in some unprovoked attacks on humans but is not generally perceived as a threat.
Nurse sharks are common throughout their range but are still considered ‘Near Threatened’.
No species is known to regularly prey on Nurse sharks, although they have been found in the stomach contents of lemon sharks, tiger sharks , bull sharks and great hammerhead sharks.
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Tropical to warm temperate latitudes in the eastern Pacific and eastern and western Atlantic oceans
Coral and rocky reefs and associated sand flats
Order Orectolobiformes (carpet sharks), Family Ginglymostomatidae (nurse sharks)
The nurse shark is one of the most commonly observed sharks on coral and rocky reefs of the eastern Pacific Ocean and the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean. Given that nurse sharks give live birth and that individuals (even juveniles) have relatively small home ranges, it is surprising that all individuals across this large, tropical to warm temperate distribution are the same species. An extensive genetic study of the nurse shark may reveal the existence of different species in different ocean basins (e.g., on either side of Central America).
The nurse shark is one of the most commonly observed sharks on coral and rocky reefs of the eastern Pacific Ocean and the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean. Given that nurse sharks give live birth and that individuals (even juveniles) have relatively small home ranges, it is surprising that all individuals across this large, tropical to warm temperate distribution are the same species. An extensive genetic study of the nurse shark may reveal the existence of different species in different ocean basins (e.g., on either side of Central America).
Nurse sharks are very easy to identify. They reach fairly large sizes (10 feet/3 m), but unlike most large shark species, they are not grayish in coloration. Instead, they are yellowish-brown. They also have characteristically round heads, barbels that they use to search for prey, and very small eyes. Nurse sharks are one of the species of sharks that are able to remain perfectly still, and they spend most of the daylight hours resting in caves or under ledges, sometimes in groups of several individuals. During the twilight hours and at night, they become much more active and feed on fishes, rays, and invertebrates. They are suction feeders and can generate enough pressure to suck a queen conch right out of its shell. Like many suction feeders, nurse sharks swallow their prey whole.
Because they are inactive during the day, remain perfectly still, and are not targeted by fisheries throughout their range, nurse sharks are the most common species of shark that SCUBA divers or snorkelers experience on reefs within their range. Historically, other sharks were probably more common, but heavy fishing pressure has changed the community in many areas. Though they seem harmless while they sleep during the day, it is unwise to pet nurse sharks or to pull on their tails. Some individuals have been known to bite divers or swimmers who startled them awake, certainly as a means of self-defense. Global nurse shark population trends are unknown, but they have been depleted in some places as a result of overfishing.
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