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Fishermen off Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast recently made a rare catch that has stunned both the public and the scientific community. They caught a nurse shark displaying a bright orange body and ghostly white eyes. The unusual coloration marks the first documented case of its kind in the region and has sparked fresh discussion among experts.
Why was bright orange shark swimming in Costa Rica?
A routine fishing trip near Tortuguero National Park in 2024 garnered significant attention online. Costa Rican fishermen captured a bright orange nurse shark. Instead of the species’ typical gray or brown coloring, the shark’s body glowed a vivid orange. Its pale white eyes made the discovery even more extraordinary.
The photographs, shared by the fishermen and later published in the journal Marine Biodiversity, confirmed this as the first reported sighting of such coloration in Costa Rica. It also makes it the first scientifically verified case of complete xanthism in a nurse shark.
Xanthism is a rare genetic condition. In this condition, the reduction or absence of darker skin pigments allows yellow and orange pigments to dominate. Scientists have recorded it occasionally in other marine animals, but they consider its occurrence in sharks exceptionally rare.
Scientists highlighted that the shark’s white eyes indicate signs of albinism, a condition caused by the lack of melanin, the pigment that normally provides color to skin, eyes, and hair. The presence of both albinism and xanthism in the same animal led researchers to classify the case as “albino-xanthochromism.” This phenomenon has never before been documented in the Caribbean Sea.
Measuring about six and a half feet long, the shark also showed survival ability. Such pigmentation anomalies do not appear to hinder it. Marine biologists noted that this discovery opens up new possibilities for studying how genetics and environmental conditions influence shark pigmentation. Experts added that the finding further demonstrates the extraordinary biodiversity of Costa Rica’s Caribbean waters.
The unusual catch was first reported by tourism company Parismina Domus Dei, which posted photos on Facebook in August 2024.
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