Two questions

[Garrobo]

First, what does 'angst' mean? Sorry, I'm illiterate I guess and am too lazy to look it up. And has anyone ever heard of someone being bitten by a nurse shark?:mooner:

 

[Dive Junky]

angst - a feeling of anxiety. And no I have never heard of someone being bit by a nurse shark.

 

[Manuel Sam]

In spite of their apparent docile and rather dormant demeanor, I have heard of nurse shark bites when overly harassed - as in grabbing their tails, for example. Like stingrays, their usual defense is to run, but they are quite capable of inflicting pain.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

When we were at the aquarium in key west a guide told us about a boy being bitten by one. He was harassing it in the shallows. A juvenile about 3 ft long. He grabbed it's tail and it turned and latched on. A nurse shark feeds by cracking the shell of it's prey ( lobsters a favorite) and then sucking the meat out. According to the guide it would not let go and had to be surgically removed.

 

[Damselfish]

I've read a few stories about getting being bitten by nurse sharks, don't recall if it was divers or snorkelers. The trouble with nurse sharks is, since they are pretty mellow and have a reputation as such, some people think they can get away with pulling their tails or whatever stupid stunts. Probably the shark will just swim away if annoyed, but maybe not. (I personally know someone who did this while snorkeling and bragged to me about it, obviously not knowing it was stupid, and I would think it was stupid. Fortunately nothing bad happened that time.)

 

[Splitlip]

In spite of their apparent docile and rather dormant demeanor, I have heard of nurse shark bites when overly harassed - as in grabbing their tails, for example. Like stingrays, their usual defense is to run, but they are quite capable of inflicting pain.

Absolutely. Seen it.

 

[redacted]

nurse shark attack - Google Search

 

[RonFrank]

There was an incident I think last summer where a DiveOp out of the upper FL Keys was messing with a Nurse shark (kissing it), and it latched onto his face. It is obvious from this bite incident that this is a very docile shark as if the shark wanted to, it could have killed the guy. Instead it just latched onto his mouth which while very nasty, was much deserved.

Nurse sharks have a surprisingly large jaw which is difficult to see. I was at SeaWorld a while back, and they had the jaws of various sharks on display. Next to the great white, the Nurse shark had one of the larger jaws.

Nurse sharks are surprisingly timid especially during the day. You can get very close with little worry about aggression. They will move if you bother them. Most just keep a watchful eye on divers, and the most aggressive act you will observe is them leaving!

 

[Barracuda2]

I don't know if or where someone could find any stats on this, but I believe that in the shark-bites-man category, nurse sharks would be pretty close to the top if not number 1. Their bites are not close to being fatal and therefore probably not reported. Also, as someone has said, nurse sharks are presumed docile and therefore "picked on" more by divers. I witnessed a close call in the Bahamas to one of the divers in our group who pulled on the tail of a nurse; the shark came at him but abruptly changed its mind---it definitely charged the diver. I won't mess with them.

 

[pir8]

What happens when ya go pulling on a puppy dogs tail?