 The tawny nurse shark was first described by French naturalist René @-@ Primevère Lesson as Scyllium ferrugineum , based on a 1 @.@ 4 m ( 4 ft 7 in ) long specimen from New Guinea . His short account was published in 1831 in Voyage au tour du monde , sur la corvette La Coquille . A more detailed description , along with an illustration , was published by German naturalist Eduard Rüppell in 1837 as Nebrius concolor , based on a specimen from the Red Sea . Both names were retained , often in separate genera ( Ginglymostoma and Nebrius respectively ) , until they were synonymized by Leonard Compagno in 1984 . Compagno recognized that the tooth shape differences used to separate these species were the result of differences in age , with N. concolor representing younger individuals . 
