RARE BRIGHT ORANGE SHARK OFF COSTA RICA COAST STUNS SCIENTISTS
Genetics is amazing. They may make peacocks white and manta rays pink. They also seem to be able to change a shark into an enormous goldfish. During a sport fishing trip in Costa Rica in the summer of 2024, a rare nurse shark was found. Both participants and experts were taken aback by its orange-golden colour. A recent study that was published in Marine Biodiversity is now providing insight into the precise genetic changes occurring in this unusual shark.
The odd colouration is attributed by the study's authors to xanthism, also known as xanthochromism, a pigmentation alteration in the animal. An animal with xanthism, which is more frequent in frogs and snakes, turns yellow due to a lack of deeper pigments. According to the authors, it is extremely uncommon in marine animals and has never been seen in this particular species. It's fascinating to see that this nurse shark has additional distinctive genetic markers. Its white eyes, a symptom of albinism, are also visible upon careful inspection.
The shark is most likely unaware that it is yellow. And this one appeared to be a healthy, likely recently mature adult, Nick Whitney, a senior scientist with expertise in nurse sharks at the New England Aquarium, said NPR. "Being yellow like that may have made it stand out more in those early years of existence, but it seems to have weathered that just well."