Shark Ray Alley is located off the shores of Ambergris Caye (just a few miles), and is part of the protected Hol Chan Marine Reserve (the northern part of the Barrier Reef). First established in 1987, today Hol Chan measures more than 13,000 acres and is divided into four distinct marine zones:
- Zone A – Coral Reef – Bursting with underwater life, this zone is the anchor point for the reserve, home to several distinct species of living coral.
- Zone B – Sea Grass Beds – Thousands of species use the undulating sea grass to hide from predators or stalk their prey.
- Zone C – Mangroves – Closer to shore, the salt-resistant roots of the mangrove tree serve as a nursery for juvenile fish and animals as well as a rich assortment of marine fauna.
- Zone D – Shark Ray Alley – A natural cut in the reef gives divers a chance to see rays, sharks and dozens of other species in shallow water with a white sandy sea floor perfect for snorkeling.
Shark Ray Alley - Zone D of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve
This recently discovered dive site has been selected as one of the seven best "animal dives" in the Caribbean SKIN DIVER MAGAZINE. For years, local fishermen cleaned their catch just inside the reef, to the south of Hol Chan Cut and Ambergris Caye. The fishermen soon noticed that the offal from cleaning fish was attracting Nurse Sharks and several Southern Sting Rays. When the dive operators of San Pedro found out, they quickly investigated. What they found was a bonanza, and "Shark-Ray Alley" quickly became a very popular dive site.
The sharks and rays hear the dive boats approaching and begin to school in anticipation of bait being thrown into the water. When you arrive, you will see the surface often boiling with rolling sharks and sting ray wings as they vie for the scraps. These creatures have a great tolerance for divers and snorkelers. The rays, which have a 'wing-span' of two to four feet, swim directly towards the divers, mouths often turned up hoping for a hand held tid-bit to be placed near their mouths. Other have learned to swim in circles around the divers, as if performing for food. The docile Nurse Sharks average four to six feet in length and can be a bit more aggressive than the sting rays.
It is important that you maintain your perspective. These are wild creatures first and as such, can be unpredictable in their behavior. The best course of action is to leave the touching and feeding to the dive masters, while you enjoy the show from a safe distance determined by your swimming skill and comfort level.
This recently discovered dive site has been selected as one of the seven best "animal dives" in the Caribbean SKIN DIVER MAGAZINE. For years, local fishermen cleaned their catch just inside the reef, to the south of Hol Chan Cut and Ambergris Caye. The fishermen soon noticed that the offal from cleaning fish was attracting Nurse Sharks and several Southern Sting Rays. When the dive operators of San Pedro found out, they quickly investigated. What they found was a bonanza, and "Shark-Ray Alley" quickly became a very popular dive site.
The sharks and rays hear the dive boats approaching and begin to school in anticipation of bait being thrown into the water. When you arrive, you will see the surface often boiling with rolling sharks and sting ray wings as they vie for the scraps. These creatures have a great tolerance for divers and snorkelers. The rays, which have a 'wing-span' of two to four feet, swim directly towards the divers, mouths often turned up hoping for a hand held tid-bit to be placed near their mouths. Other have learned to swim in circles around the divers, as if performing for food. The docile Nurse Sharks average four to six feet in length and can be a bit more aggressive than the sting rays.
It is important that you maintain your perspective. These are wild creatures first and as such, can be unpredictable in their behavior. The best course of action is to leave the touching and feeding to the dive masters, while you enjoy the show from a safe distance determined by your swimming skill and comfort level.
SHARK RAY ALLEY
Rated as one of the best "animal dives" in the Caribbean
by SKIN DIVER MAGAZINE.
by SKIN DIVER MAGAZINE.
It's about a 15 minute boat ride from Ambergris Caye and a 40 minute boat ride from Caye Caulker. Shark Ray Alley sits in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, and comprises a section of the reserve known as "Zone-D". First established in 1987, today Hol Chan measures more than 13,000 acres. For many, snorkeling at Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley has been the highlight of their trip to Belize. As the boats approach, the sharks hear the hum of the engines and they being to gather in anticipation of bait being thrown into the water. When you arrive, you will see the surface often boiling with rolling sharks and sting ray wings as they search for the scrapes. These creatures have a great tolerance for divers and snorkelers, and seem to effortlessly swim around humans.
HOL CHAN MARINE RESERVE
Is the oldest marine reserve in Belize. The reserve is located approximately 3 miles off the coast of Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker and is considered the most popular snorkeling spot in Belize. The site has several zones, the most popular being Coral Reefs and Shark Ray Alley. The 8 zones (habitats) are:
By boat, Hol Chan is about 15 minutes away from San Pedro and 40 minutes away from Caye Caulker. The reason why the site is popular for snorkeling and diving is because it has a vibrant community of marine wildlife. On a typical day, anyone snorkeling or diving in the area will encounter numerous types of fish, sea turtles, manta rays, crabs, eels, lobsters and friendly nurse sharks. |
ZONE D - SHARK RAY ALLEY
For years, local fishermen cleaned their catch just inside the reef, to the south of Hol Chan Cut and Ambergris Caye. The fisherman soon noticed that the offal from cleaning fish was attracting nurse sharks and several Southern Sting Rays. When the dive operators of San Pedro found out, they quickly investigated. What they found was a bonanza, and "Shark-Ray Alley" quickly became a very popular dive site. The sharks and rays, hear the dive boats approaching and begin to school in anticipation of bait being thrown into the water. When you arrive, you will see the surface often boiling with rolling sharks and sting ray wings as they search for the scrapes. These creatures have a great tolerance for divers and snorkelers. The rays, which have a "wing-span" of two to four feet, swim directly towards the divers, mouths often turned up hoping for a hand held tid bit to be placed near their mouths. Others have learned to swim in circles around the divers, as if performing for food. The docile nurse sharks average four to six feet in length and can be a bit more aggressive than the sting rays. |
PRECAUTIONS - While it's tempting to want to pet a nurse shark, it's important to maintain a proper perspective. Though nurse sharks as a general rule are docile creatures (which seem to effortless swim around humans), they can leave a nasty bite if provoked. They do not posses large teeth, and this is why many people swimming with them assume they aren't dangerous. Though attacks are uncommon, humans are usually to blame if an attack does occur (usually due to excessive handling or harassment). Docile and shy as nurse sharks are, they may bite when provoked—or if they mistake an arm or finger for food. When swimming with nurse sharks, do so at your own risk, respect their boundaries and they will respect your boundaries. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FEED A NURSE SHARK.
13 FACTS ABOUT NURSE SHARKS
- Nurse Sharks Use a Method Called Buccal Pumping To Breathe - For certain sharks, lying on the ocean floor is an impossibility. Species like the great white and the whale shark breathe by swimming nonstop; as they travel around, water is constantly flowing into their open mouths and across their gills, supplying oxygen en route. If the fish stop moving for too long, that flow ceases and they die. But other species are perfectly capable of breathing while sitting still—including the nurse shark. By using oral muscles to actively suck water into the mouth—what's called buccal pumping—it can supply oxygen to the gills without needing to swim anywhere.
- Nurse Sharks Can Walk Across The Ocean Floor - Wild nurse sharks are usually found in shallow, coastal waters. The fish are nocturnal predators who tend to hunt within 65 feet of the ocean’s surface (although adults sometimes rest in deeper waters during the daylight hours). They spend their lives around coral reefs and coastal shelves, and most of their hunting takes place right on the ocean floor, where these slow-moving carnivores look for prey in or near the sand. Instead of swimming, they sometimes use their pectoral fins to “walk” across the bottom.
- Nurse Sharks Have Two Little Knobs On Their Face Called "Barbels" - Barbels are fleshy sense organs that contain taste buds, which they drag across sand in search of prey.
- Nurse Sharks Suck Up Their Food - Nurse sharks eat a variety of sea life, from conchs, squid, and sea urchins to bony fish. A cavity within the throat generates a powerful suction which vacuums hapless animals up into the nurse shark’s mouth, where rows of tiny, backward-curving teeth crush up the food. The mouth works like a dental conveyor belt; new rows of teeth pop up towards the back and gradually push older ones forward until they fall out. How long an individual row lasts depends on the season. During the winter, a nurse shark will acquire a fresh row of teeth every 50 to 70 days. But in the summer, tooth row replacement occurs every 10 to 20 days.
- Nurse Sharks Come In Different Colors - Full-grown nurse sharks are usually brown, but they can also be grey or yellowish. In 1992, a “milk white” individual with brown splotches was caught and photographed near Key Largo, Florida. The fish might have been piebald, which is a genetic condition that’s similar to albinism. Piebald animals have a combination of normally colored skin and patches of pigment-deficient white skin. Another mature nurse shark who fit this general description was filmed in 2014. Adult specimens don't normally have spots, but as juveniles, the fish are covered in little black dots that fade as they age.
- Nurse Sharks Like To Unwind in Big Groups - Shark snuggle parties are a thing. By day, the nocturnal nurse shark becomes inactive; for hours on end, it just lies around and pumps water over its gills. Crevices, ledges, and piles of boulders are popular downtime locations for this species. Although the sharks don't socialize on hunting trips, they often recline en masse. Nurse sharks are known to rest communally, with groups of two to 40 individuals piling up on top of each other.
- Adult Nurse Sharks Can Reach Over 10 Feet in Length - The maximum reliably-measured length for this species is 10.1 feet. As far as weight goes, the heaviest adult ever reported to the International Game and Fish Association was a 263.8-pounder caught by two fishermen in 2007. Day-old pups are 7.8 to 12 inches long—and a batch of premature nurse sharks who were measured by scientists after being born near-term weighed between 4.2 and 5.3 ounces apiece. Just goes to show you, something small can turn into something big.
- Nobody Knows Where The Name "Nurse Shark" Came From - It’s definitely not qualified to care for hospital patients, so why did people start calling this barbel-faced sea critter the “nurse” shark? That’s a linguistic mystery, but historians have their theories. Maybe the suction-based feeding methods reminded sailors of nursing infants. Alternatively, the nurse in nurse shark could be descended from “huss,” an archaic name given to an unrelated family of bottom-dwellers. (We now call them “catsharks.”) Over time, huss evolved into nuss, a word that came to mean “shark” or “large fish.” So perhaps the nurse shark moniker is based on a corruption of nuss.
- The Nurse Shark is a relative to the Whale Shark - Approaching 40 feet in total length and weighing several tons, adult whale sharks are the biggest fish presently alive. Like the nurse shark, this species eats via suction, and that’s not where the resemblance stops. Whale and nurse sharks are both members of the order Orectolobiformes, a group of 39 shark species largely in temperate and tropical oceans. Also known as “carpet sharks,” they're characterized by having small mouths that—when viewed in profile—do not extend behind the eyes. All of these fish have two dorsal fins on their backs and five sets of gill slits. Species within this order tend to have striking patterns on their skins, with grown-up nurse sharks being an obvious exception. Barbels are another common feature.
- Nurse Sharks Are Partially Migratory - Plenty of well-known sharks embark on huge migrations; hundreds of whale sharks from across the Atlantic visit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula every summer and Pacific great whites go on winter pilgrimages to a mysterious, mid-ocean site dubbed the “White Shark Café.” Nurse sharks are less prone to wanderlust; many remain in the same general area all year round. In January 2018, Environmental Biology of Fishes published a 23-year nurse shark tracking study. The scientists behind it looked at a wild population which uses the Dry Tortugas (part of the Florida Keys) as a mating ground. Altogether, they captured and recaptured 76 adult nurse sharks. Tagging revealed that some of these fish clung to the Dry Tortugas and neighboring islands throughout the year. However, others were venturing as far north as the Tampa Bay area in between mating seasons, making the shark “partially migratory.” That means some individuals within this species migrate, but others don't.
- Female Nurse Sharks Don't Give Birth Every Year - The nurse shark mating season lasts from May to July, during which females will mate with multiple males. Sometimes two, three, or more males will attempt to mate with the same female simultaneously, resulting in violent shoving matches. Nurse sharks have a five- or six-month gestation period and give birth to litters of 20 to 40 live young. A single batch of newborn pups may include the offspring of up to six different fathers. After she’s given birth, a mother nurse shark won’t mate again for another 18 months.
- Nurse Sharks Can Bite If Provoked - Nurse Sharks as a general rule are docile creatures, unless you provoke them - then they can leave a nasty bite. In Belize, petting nurse sharks use to be permitted, but that is no longer the case. When swimming with nurse sharks, do so at your own risk. Though these creatures can be sluggish by nature, and for this reason often kept in aquariums. They do not posses large teeth, and this is why many people swimming with them assume they aren't dangerous. Though attacks are uncommon, humans are usually to blame if an attack does occur. Docile and shy as nurse sharks are, they may bite when provoked—or if they mistake an arm or finger for food. Best to respect these creatures from a distance. When swimming with nurse sharks, respect their boundaries and they will respect your boundaries.
- New Species of Nurse Shark Recently Named - The nurse shark that we have come to know in the Caribbean (Ginglymostoma Cirratum - Caribbean Nurse Shark) also lives off the northeastern coast of South America, near Spain, along western Africa, and by the eastern U.S. seaboard. A 2012 study found that a population living in the tropical eastern Pacific was genetically and anatomically different enough from Atlantic nurse sharks to constitute its own species. This new species (named Ginglymostoma Unami - Pacific Nurse Shark), it has a couple of noticeable traits that set it apart from the Caribbean Nurse Shark. For example, the newly named fish has a second dorsal fin, which lies closer to the tail.
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