Garvin Watson did not expect to find that on his fishing rod that day in August 2024. Off the coast of Parismina, near Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica, something bright orange broke the surface of the water.
It was an almost 2-meter nurse shark, but not just any nurse shark: its skin had an intense yellow-orange hue, and its completely white eyes showed no irises. Nurse sharks are usually brown, perfect camouflage for hiding among the rocks. This one looked like nothing documented before.
A year later, the journal Marine Biodiversity confirmed what Daniel Arauz Naranjo, from the Center for the Rescue of Endangered Marine Species, suspected: the animal has albino-xanthochromism, the combination of albinism and xanthism never before recorded in this species or anywhere in the Caribbean. They photographed it and returned it to the sea, although its color no longer helps it hide from anyone.