Orange shark found off Costa Rica coast. Check features, reason behind rare skin tone. Check photos

An orange shark has been found off Costa Rica coast. The shark was measured over six feet long. The skin tone and the colour of eyes, which is white, have attracted eyeballs.

Researchers believe the animal’s unusual appearance is the result of xanthism, also known as xanthochroism—a rare pigmentation condition that leads to an overabundance of yellow or golden tones in the skin. This occurs due to a deficiency in red pigmentation, altering the animal's typical coloration.

The orange shark was caught near Tortuguero National Park at a depth of 37 metres. The shark has been categorized as Nurse Shark which has “intense yellow-orange” skin colour.




Recently, Australian scientists have discovered a razor-toothed whale that prowled the seas 26 million years ago, saying Wednesday the species was "deceptively cute" but a fearsome predator. Museums Victoria pieced together the species from an unusually well-preserved skull fossil found on Victoria's Surf Coast in 2019.

Scientists discovered a "fast, sharp-toothed predator" that would have been about the size of a dolphin. The skull belonged to a group of prehistoric whales known as the mammalodontids, distant smaller relatives of today's filter-feeding whales. It is the fourth mammalodontid species ever discovered, Museums Victoria said.

Victoria's Surf Coast lies on the Jan Juc Formation -- a geological feature dating to the Oligocene epoch between 23 and 30 million years ago. A string of rare fossils have been unearthed along the scenic stretch of beach, a renowned site for the study of early whale evolution. The species was named Janjucetus dullardi, a nod to local Ross Dullard who stumbled across the skull while strolling the beach in 2019. It was described in the peer-reviewed Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

FAQs

Q1. Where was orange shark caught?
A1. The orange shark was caught near Tortuguero National Park at a depth of 37 metres. The shark has been categorized as Nurse Shark which has “intense yellow-orange” skin colour.

Q2. Why is orange shark's colour is orange?
A2. Researchers believe the animal’s unusual appearance is the result of xanthism, also known as xanthochroism—a rare pigmentation condition that leads to an overabundance of yellow or golden tones in the skin. This occurs due to a deficiency in red pigmentation, altering the animal's typical coloration.