Caribbean divers encounter rare orange nurse shark

An extremely rare nurse shark with strikingly orange appearance and ghostly white eyes has been discovered off the coast of Costa Rica.

This is the first-ever recorded case of xanthism in cartilaginous fishes in the Caribbean, a pigmentation condition that creates excessive yellow or golden-orange colours in the animals’ skin due to lack of specific red pigment.

The shark which was captured on a sport fishing trip near Tortuguero National Park, at a depth of 37 meters, is more than 6 feet long, giving first-of-its-kind sighting.

According to Federal University of Rio Grande research, this rare skin condition is first-time documented in cartilaginous fish, a group that includes rays, skates and sharks in the Caribbean.

Naturally, nurse sharks possess brown skin, helping them to camouflage in the seabeds. On the contrary, xanthism turns their brown skin into conspicuous orange and albino white eyes, making them more visible and susceptible to predators.

According to scientists, the animals suffering from xanthism show a poor rate of survival.

The recent discovery has urged the scientific community to find out the causes of rare skin conditions. The researchers have come up with different reasons ranging from genetic mutation, and diet to environmental factors.