Nurse sharks can be seen throughout the atoll on lagoon and seaward reefs. More often than not they are encountered resting in caves or overhangs, but will frequently emerge and swim off if approached too closely. They are generally non-aggressive, although there are reports of nurse sharks biting divers (not yet at Kwaj) who harass them too much. They can get quite large and seem to have poor eyesight. We have had them approach quite close until they suddenly seem to see us there, at which point they rapidly turn tail and dart off, at times running into coral in the process. More than once we have seen one of these at night with its head in a hole and twisting around, and after it departed, we saw the remnants of where clams that live embedded in the reef, like Arca or Tridacna maxima, had been ripped out and consumed. About one third of the nurse sharks we see at Kwaj are missing their second dorsal fin, like the one in the first photo below.
Created 1 October 2013