---
title: "Nurse Shark"
description: "Ginglymostoma cirratum — Fish. The nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) is an elasmobranch fish in the family Ginglymostomatidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/nurse-shark
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Nurse Shark

> Ginglymostoma cirratum — Fish. The nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) is an elasmobranch fish in the family Ginglymostomatidae.

- Scientific name: *Ginglymostoma cirratum*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 4919
- Wikidata: [Q756859](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q756859)
- iNaturalist taxon: [49964](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/49964)

## Names

- en: Nurse Shark
- de: Atlantischer Ammenhai
- es: Tiburón gata
- fr: Requin-nourrice atlantique
- nl: Verpleegsterhaai
- pt: Tubarão-enfermeiro

## Countries with the most observations

US (1385), BZ (715), MX (531), BS (352), KY (104), BL (94), VI (94), HN (93), PA (82), BR (66), PR (53), CO (45)

## Summary

The nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) is an elasmobranch fish in the family Ginglymostomatidae. The conservation status of the nurse shark is globally assessed as vulnerable in the IUCN List of Threatened Species. They are considered to be a species of least concern in the United States and in The Bahamas, but considered to be near threatened in the western Atlantic Ocean because of their vulnerable status in South America and reported threats throughout many areas of Central America and the Caribbean. They are directly targeted in some fisheries and considered by-catch in others.
Nurse sharks are an important…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_shark

## Photo

![Nurse Shark](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/nurse-shark/medium.jpg)

Photo: G Key · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27460642

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/nurse-shark?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).