Researchers don’t believe the rare condition, albino-xanthochromism, poses a significant threat to the shark’s survivability.
The depths of the Caribbean host a spectacular array of marine life—including this nurse shark featuring vivid orange scales and cloudy white eyes.
Last year, anglers on a fishing trip near Costa Rica with Parisima Domus Dei, a tourist company, reeled in what looked like a giant goldfish with shark-like chompers. After snapping some photos of the creature—about 6 feet (1.8 meters)—the fishermen let it go, later describing their strange encounter to marine experts.
The researchers concluded that this odd creature was not a bloated goldfish. Rather, it was a nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum), a well-known predator living in Caribbean waters. But unlike most of its brethren, this orange nurse shark has not one but two extremely rare conditions—xanthism and albinism, a combination only observed once before in marine creatures.
