First Orange Shark Discovered Off The Coast Of Costa Rica

April 21, 2026

A routine day on the water turned into a once-in-a-lifetime discovery when a group of fishermen spotted something extraordinary beneath the surface off the coast of Costa Rica.

As their boat drifted along, an unusual glow caught their attention. What they saw next left them stunned — a shark with a vivid orange hue, unlike anything they had ever seen before.

Credit: Parismina Domus Dei / Facebook

“We saw an orange glow below the water and I said, ‘My God, what is this?’” said Garvin Watson, owner of a local tourist hotel, Parismina Domus Dei. “We were all screaming like crazy.”

The crew, a group of sports fishermen who practice catch-and-release, carefully reeled in the shark, documenting photos and video of the rare encounter before safely releasing it back into the ocean.

Wanting to understand what they had just witnessed, they shared their footage with scientists.

Credit: Parismina Domus Dei / Facebook

Marine biologist Daniel Arauz Naranjo was just as amazed.

“As soon as I saw it, I was like, what? That is crazy,” he said.

Naranjo has since helped co-author a scientific paper suggesting that the shark’s striking orange color may be the result of an extremely rare combination of genetic mutations.

Now, researchers are left with an exciting mystery: is this a one-of-a-kind creature, or could there be more like it swimming unseen in the depths?