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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing nurse sharks. There are four living species in the nurse shark family: the short tail nurse shark, the tawny nurse shark, the Pacific nurse shark, and the nurse shark… yeah it’s just… just the nurse shark. It’s also worth mentioning that the critically endangered sand tiger shark and related species may be called “gray nurse sharks” but they’re not part of the nurse shark family being discussed in today’s video. The nurse shark and the tawny nurse shark are the largest of the four living nurse shark species and can reach up to ten feet (3m) in length. The nurse shark can be told apart from the others by its rounded fins. The Pacific nurse shark has more pointed, shorter fins and only reaches about half the size of the larger species. The smallest of the nurse sharks is the short tail who only reaches two and a half feet (75cm) long! Apart from its small size, it’s also distinguishable by its unique, short tail! Nurse sharks get their common name from a term applied to catsharks. Originally, nurse sharks were classified as catsharks, but today they’re considered carpet sharks like whale sharks! Of course, I can’t blame people for calling these sharks “cat sharks” - they have whiskers just like a cat! More on these later though. Another name for nurse sharks, and my personal favorite, is the giant sleepy shark.

Nurse sharks are bottom dwellers. They live in coastal, marine waters. They’re typically found on or near reefs but they also stay anywhere they have a place to hide. These sharks are nocturnal and spend their daytime hours resting in caves and crevices. They’re seen in groups, sometimes numbering in the dozens! The name “giant sleepy shark” is so appropriate because these sharks don’t venture far from home. They use the same hiding spots year after year and the same sharks are documented in the same areas sometimes years apart. They swim only a few miles from home at most! Plus, they’re just generally slow moving. One reason they may be more active at night is so they can suck up sleeping prey.

Nurse sharks don’t use their sense of sight for hunting - I mean have you seen their eyes? They’re tiny! Like catfish, a nurse shark’s facial barbels are sensitive to changes in the water, which helps them locate food! And, like other sharks, they have a good sense of smell! Nurse sharks eat crustaceans, fish, mollusks, and even sting rays! They have small mouths but their throats are designed for sucking prey out of hiding holes. They have teeth, and have bitten people in the past, but these are provoked attacks. If given their space, nurse sharks are considered non-threatening. In fact, I’ve even swam with them and I’m here to tell you about them now! Predators to nurse sharks are other sharks. They’ve been found in the stomachs of lemon sharks, tiger sharks, bull sharks, and hammerheads. Juvenile nurse sharks are more at risk of predation and tend to spend their time in more shallow water, but even adults prefer shallow water at night while hunting. During the day, adults may reach depths of over 400 feet (122m), but at night they don’t stray past 65 feet (20m).

In the wild, nurse sharks may live to be 25 years old, and it takes 15 years on average for them to reach reproductive age. Female nurse sharks produce a litter every other year. They mate with multiple males and retain their eggs in their body. Depending on the species, there may be two to 30 pups in a litter. It takes half a year for the babies to develop, and they are born live.

For more facts on nurse sharks, check out the links below. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today. Thank you to our Patrons SpikeSpiegel93, Dad, and everyone else for their support of this channel! Thank you to these viewers for today’s request! And thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!