 The tawny nurse shark is widely distributed in the Indo @-@ Pacific region . In the Indian Ocean , it is found from KwaZulu @-@ Natal , South Africa northward to the Red Sea , Persian Gulf and India , including Madagascar , Mauritius , the <unk> Archipelago , the <unk> , and the Maldives . In the western Pacific , it occurs from southern Japan and the coast of China to the Philippines , Southeast Asia , and Indonesia , to as far south as the northern coast of Australia . In the central Pacific , it has been reported from off New Caledonia , Samoa , <unk> , the Marshall Islands , and Tahiti . <unk> teeth belonging to this species have been found in the <unk> Formation of northern Brazil , dating back to the Lower Miocene ( 23 – 16 Ma ) . The presence of these fossils indicates that the range of the tawny nurse shark once extended to the tropical Atlantic Ocean , prior to the formation of the Isthmus of Panama . 
