The nurse sharks is one shark species with the ability to breath while not moving. This is due to their neck muscles that allow them to pump water in through their mouthes and out over their gills. Because of this ability, you can often find these sharks “sleeping” under ledges in the reef. These ledges give protection until night fall when the nurse sharks typically hunt for crustaceans, mollusks, sea snakes, and their favorite, stingrays. These sharks can grow 14 feet long and over 300 pounds.
The nurse shark is not widely commercially fished. However, its skin is exceptionally tough and prized for leather and its liver is often used for oil. Even though this shark is not often taken as a game fish, we fell it should be more widely protected. As you will see in the below video, these sharks are not typically a threat to humans and they are very graceful creatures.
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