In 2024, a video went viral for showing a fisherman catching a nurse shark with strikingly neon orange skin and milky white eyes. It was caught by Gavin Watson in Costa Rica and took him around 30 minutes to catch the shark. He and his team were very surprised and posted photos of the phenomenon online. It gained a ton of traction because nobody had ever seen a shark like it before.
Recently, scientists have published a study on what caused the animal to be entirely orange and the video has resurfaced around the Internet. Marine biologist and director of Costa Rica’s Rescue Center for Endangered Marine Species, Daniel Arauz Naranjo, published a study on the shark in the journal Marine Biodiversity. He and his colleagues decided that the orange hue and foggy white eyes of the animal were caused by both albinism and xanthism at the same time. The shark’s eyes would be explained by the lack of pigment that albinism causes while the orange skin would be explained by the excess of yellow pigments that xanthism causes.
In addition to this nurse shark, the same orange-skin mutation was documented in freshwater fish called cichlids. The scientists do not know the exact reasoning for why this mutation occurs, but they suspect it is caused by factors such as stress, diet or pollutants.
Despite being a direct target for predators because of this mutation, the shark has survived after being released when it was originally discovered. Researchers contacted Watson and said they aim to dive into the same spot the shark was found next year and see if it is still alive. Watson agreed, however, he and his team do not want the animal to be captured, and it will be left alone until the researchers visit it.
