-+Nurse+sharks

There were ten nurse sharks in the aquarium in the point defiance zoo. I found it to be a quite fascinating animal, and so decided to write about this interesting creature. I also had the privelige to watch the feeding time for all of the sharks in the tank. The nurse shark is actually a very chill animal usually, they can lay on the bottom of the tank or ocean and just rest then "walk" across the water on its pectoral fins. they feed primarily on crustaceans but also eat small rays,urchins and bony fishes. They can grow to be about 7 1/2 feet to about 9 feet long and 165 to 230 lbs. The females usually are slightly larger than the males grow to be. They are usually yellowish to dark brown and can have darker spots. They have large rounded heads and have whiskers between the nostrils which help them find food on the bottem. they dont migrate, instead when the water gets colder they just adapt by resting on the bottem even longer.

there are no real predators of the nurse shark, but they have occasionally been found in the stomaches of some other shark species. they live from tropical waters to subtropical waters in the pacific and atlantic of north america.



by Brett