Because of discolouration was observed on the surface of the 10-year-old, 2-meter length Nurse shark’s back-side, it has just been reasonable for a parasitological examination. We have already attempted to take smear from the skin of the animal under the water, but the samples were not evaluable, so we decided to try taking samples in "dry" conditions.
Our aquarist divers herded the animal into a special shark holder bag, which was developed by us, then near the surface the area of the tail was taken out of water meantime our vet Dr Alexandra Tóth took deep scrapings. Fortunately, there was no visible sign of pathogenic germ in the smear, and probably the altered scrapings were thickened horn-scute which has been shown as the animal aging.
The Nurse Shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) inhabits in the subtropical salt-marine and brackish waters, it occurs near the coral reefs until a depth of 130m, but usually stays between 1 - 35m.
This is a rounded nose species, between the nostrils greatly visible medium length mustache, and the gutters which connect the nose-holes with the mouth. Its colour has a wide range from yellowish-brownish to greyish-brownish, occasionally there are small, dark spots, or saddle-shaped spots on it. Adults can grow up to 4.3 m, although the average body length is about 3.04 m, the highest documented weight is 109,6kg, and the maximum documented age is 25 years.
This is a solitary, slow-moving fish, it is frequently found at the bottom of the sea by divers. Active at night, it feeds with those invertebrates which can be found on the bottom, including sea-hedgehog, squids, polyps, seashells and snails, but its diet contains small bony fish as well.
It can attack humans if it is provoked intentionally or accidentally stepped on.
