Carcharias taurus

Despite their striking appearance, they are a very placid shark and do not pose a threat to divers, unless provoked or cornered. Quite common when cornered is a loud sonic crack created by the shark’s tail as they turn to move off. (It goes without saying that on our Sydney dives, we instruct our clients to enjoy these magnificent sharks, but to respect their space and let them go about their business without human interference.)

Check out our Grey Nurse Shark videos

Dive with grey nurse sharks in Sydney

For the very best shark diving experience in Sydney, join us as we dive Sydney’s top shark diving spots.

Quick Facts on Grey Nurse Sharks

• Endangered in NSW – threatened due to illegal fishing and accidental capture.
• Also known as the sand tiger, spotted ragged-tooth shark.
• Have live babies – one or two pups per litter and they are relatively large when they’re born
  Juvenile sharks are more likely to get up close to divers (whether this is just out of curiosity or something else we just don’t know.)
• Grey nurse sharks congregate in shallow waters. We encounter them on our Sydney dives in rocky caves and at inshore reefs.
• Grey nurse sharks are now being electronically tagged, which let scientists keep track of their migration up and down the coast of Australia.
• Department of Primary Industry and scientist have positioned stations to detect shark tags. The shark tags record the type of shark, time it passed the tag, the water temperature and a range of other information stored in a database for further study. (Several grey nurse sharks have been seen at the Apartments dive site with electronic tags.) Sydney Dive Charters is an active participant in grey nurse shark tagging and information gathering. We regularly update shark scientists of our sightings and providing videos of these magnificent animals for research purposes.
• Sharks will have scratches or bite marks around the head area after mating.
• Pregnant female can be easily identified by divers by their abnormally large girth around the abdomen.
• Male sharks are easily identified by the claspers located on their underside.

Source: https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/wildlife/threatened-species/endangered/grey-nurse-shark