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Book Review of Facts About the Nurse Shark (A Picture Book For Kids)

Facts About the Nurse Shark (A Picture Book For Kids)
jjares avatar reviewed on + 3316 more book reviews


Nurse Shark eggs have the fanciful name of 'mermaid's purses." I was surprised to learn that these sharks gestate for six to nine months and emerge fully independent. Generally, they are slow sharks and wait for food to come to them. Then they suck the food into their mouths. They are nocturnal animals.

To me, the most glaring omission in this book was: Why is it called the nurse shark? FYI: It may come from the sucking sound they make when hunting for prey in the sands. It may also come from the archaic word, 'nusse,' meaning cat shark. Finally, the most likely theory is that it comes from the Old English word for sea-floor shark: hurse. Overall score = G+.