Nurse sharks are part of a group usually called Carpet Sharks because they have the ability to breathe whilst stationary rather than only through constant motion. This is because they can gulp water and the motion allows them to push it through their gills.
This particular shark is calm, relaxed, and having fun. If it wasn’t, not only would the diver have not interacted with the shark in the first place, the shark would also swim off or be violently flicking its tail about. This is also a female and, honestly, the way she’s responding to the diver is more like a bit of casual courting and “okay I guess this is how this one tries to mate huh but hey he’s not biting me to hold on so this is cool”.
The thing about sharks is they can have fun and they are curious. Most shark bites are curiosity bites (think baby shoving everything in their mouths bc “huh what’s this”) and this shark is able to know that this particular human has no desire to hurt her, is happy to swim about with her, and basically the weird dancing is just entertainment.
It’s difficult sometimes, I think, for people to see this sort of thing and not think “that animal is being exploited!” when this is a form of enrichment for the animal. Fish especially are a challenge to provide enrichment for sometimes, just because they’re not like big cats or wolves or other animals like mammals and reptiles. They don’t have hands, feet, or paws. You can’t enrich a sharks life just with things they can bite, not when sharks also are willing to swim close to divers, bump against stuff, swim alongside, breach the surface with their heads to look above the water, and so on.
This right here is honestly a great way to entertain the shark and also give her something non-stressful and not too unusual for her to adapt to (I’m not kidding about the weird and bitey way sharks uhm… make more sharks).
Gods but I’d absolutely dive and dance with a shark ngl.
