yet another nurse shark post
- Thread starter sbrodacz
- Start date
I did some research, sent the two pics down to my friends at the MBA, and they said it's just a very very nice example of your standard nurse shark. Not tawny or short tailed. They said it's rare to get one with such distinct spots, but it happens.
Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com
Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com
I'm going to have to agree with MBA on this.
The Common Nurse Shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) can be spotted, with slight bands, as new born juveniles that disappear by the time the shark reachs just 24" in length. That said - there may be a slight difference between juveniles of the Western Atlantic & Eastern Pacific populations of the Common Nurse.
Also the fin morphology(shape) seems to all wrong for the Tawny, and the tail & dorsal fins are all wrong for it to be a juvenile Short-tail.
The Common Nurse Shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) can be spotted, with slight bands, as new born juveniles that disappear by the time the shark reachs just 24" in length. That said - there may be a slight difference between juveniles of the Western Atlantic & Eastern Pacific populations of the Common Nurse.
Also the fin morphology(shape) seems to all wrong for the Tawny, and the tail & dorsal fins are all wrong for it to be a juvenile Short-tail.
Sorry for the short reply earlier - posting from the phone is a bit annoying. But what Ken said is the gist of what I got - it appears to be a fine example of Ginglymostoma cirratum. And likely they meant the pacific variety, since they deal primarily with Pacific species at the MBA. That'd be interesting to find out, if Atlantic and Pacific nurse sharks have significantly different juvenile patterns.
I'd rather not post the employee's name on the board, but I'll shoot you a PM with her info Matt.
I'd rather not post the employee's name on the board, but I'll shoot you a PM with her info Matt.
That's really a question for researchers - is the wild populations of the Common Nurse different from one another. If so - then you maybe be looking at possible 3 or more different sub-species of the Common Nurse. Or possible even 2-3 different, but closely related species.
But it's actually quite common for geographically isolated subpopulations of a given species to take on slightly different physical characters - after tens thousands years of geopgraphical isolation.
In fact if you look at the California Horn Shark - It's been noted that the Cali Horns of the Channel & Catalina islands are slightly different from those found near Los Angeles, which are slightly different from the ones found near the southern tip of Baja. Yet no one (to my knowledge) identified them as distinct subspecies of the Cali Horn.
But it's actually quite common for geographically isolated subpopulations of a given species to take on slightly different physical characters - after tens thousands years of geopgraphical isolation.
In fact if you look at the California Horn Shark - It's been noted that the Cali Horns of the Channel & Catalina islands are slightly different from those found near Los Angeles, which are slightly different from the ones found near the southern tip of Baja. Yet no one (to my knowledge) identified them as distinct subspecies of the Cali Horn.
