The nurse shark

Also known as Sleeping Sharks, they are among the most common sharks of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico reefs.. They are distinguished by their spiral eyes, their very particular flat head adorned with barbels and their dorsal fins of identical size. The young are fair with dark spots and the older ones have yellow-brown skin with diamond-shaped speckles. They can reach a weight of 75 to 105 kg and can live up to 25 years. It usually measures between 2,2 and 2,7 meters. Its mouth and tapered teeth allow it to suck up and crush fish, molluscs and crustaceans from the seabed, hence its name of nurse shark, a noisy sucking like sucking babies.. His senses are very keen and allow them to explore the marine world. Thanks to the extremely fine sense of smell combined with the chemical receptors and the tactile barbels that carry taste buds, they are able to find prey buried in the sand! It is not an aggressive animal, it is a most docile shark. The nurse shark is nocturnal, sedentary and lethargic. Its nickname of the sleeper shark comes from the fact that it sits on the bottom all day. They are often found resting in caves or under an overhang, sometimes with their tail out.

The nurse shark feeds mainly on groundfish and invertebrates such as lobsters, but also on shrimps, crabs, octopus and squid..

The eggs normally hatch in the mother's womb after 5 or 6 months and the young are therefore born alive (litters of a maximum size of 28 young).