Fishers discover first-of-its-kind bright orange shark in Caribbean

If you've never heard of an orange shark before, you're not alone. I haven't heard of one either, although living in the Northeastern U.S. I've read about blue, pink and orange lobsters. Today's blog is about an orange shark disovered in the Caribbean Sea!

(Photo: Nurse sharks are normally yellow to gray-brown, but this one was bright orange. (Image credit: Garvin Watson and Parismina Domus Dei. Parismina Limón Bar, Costa Rica.)

Fishers discover first-of-its-kind bright orange shark with two rare conditions in Caribbean

Live Science, Patrick Pester published September 5, 2025

A first-of-its-kind bright orange shark with white eyes has been caught and released in the Caribbean, a new study reveals.

The nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) had a mysterious condition called xanthism, or xanthochroism, which increases yellow pigmentation in the skin. Researchers have recorded xanthism in several animals, but this is the first definitive case of a nurse shark with the trait. The shark also appears to have albinism, making it even more unusual.

Sports fishers discovered the shark by chance off the east coast of Costa Rica in 2024. Garvin Watson, owner of the Parismina Domus Dei hotel in the village of Parismina, reeled in the shark, which was around 6.6 feet (2 meters) long and swimming 120 feet (37 m) below the surface.

"We could not believe what we had in front of our eyes," Watson told Live Science in an email.

"That orange shark shining with the sunlight was something out of the ordinary," he said. "We did not know that it was going to be a discovery worldwide, recognized by all the biologists of the world."

The fishers photographed the shark, then removed the hook from its mouth and released it back into the Caribbean Sea. Researchers described the event and its significance in a new study published Aug. 1 in the journal Marine Biodiversity.