Rare Seen Orange Shark With White Eyed
A rare shark in bright orange color was caught off the coast of Costa Rica with unusual eyes. Scientists believe that this is a unique case of the combination of two pigmentation anomalies.
In August 2025, fishermen fishing in the Caribbean captured a two – meter shark with orange skin and ghost eyes. Experts say the animal has two genetic abnormalities that are almost unattained in cartilage fish.
It’s even more amazing that the shark survives and reaches adulthood.
White-Eyed Orange Shark Caught In Costa Rica
A shark in Costa Rica has two extremely rare mutations:
sandulism (excess of yellow and orange pigments);
albinism (the lack of melanin causes the eyes to look white).
Such abnormalities make the animal shiny and remarkable, therefore more vulnerable. This often reduces the chances of survival in the wild. But the size of the caught shark shows that despite its unusual color, it has managed to grow and hunt.
Disease in animals
By the way, xenxism had previously been observed in individual fish, reptiles and birds, but it was never seen in cartilage fish such as sharks or rays.
Albinism in sharks is also extremely rare. Researchers from the Federal University of Rio Grande stressed that this was the first case in the Caribbean region.
Rare shark species
The discovered shark belongs to a species of slow-runner called nurse shark.
Normally, they are brownish, which allows them to integrate with the bottom.
In fact, bright coloring makes the new representative of the species, which raises many questions for scientists: is this an accident or mutations accumulate in the population?
Western experts now plan to conduct a genetic analysis to determine the origin of mutations and understand how they affect the behavior and sustainability of the shark.
Source: Rare Seen Orange Shark With White Eyed