Months after news of their stingray’s mysterious pregnancy made headlines, a North Carolina aquarium says the fish is dealing with a rare disease.
Back in February, marine biology organization Team ECCO announced in a live video feed that Charlotte, a California stingray at their Hendersonville Shark Aquarium and Lab, had given birth and was expected to give birth to four pups.
In the initial live broadcast, the aquarium’s executive director, Brenda Ramer, shared Charlotte’s ultrasound and confirmed that it is possible that she became pregnant through parthenogenesis or that she mated with one of the other sharks that also live in the same aquarium. The comments surrounding the potential hybrid of shark and ray ended up causing controversy within the scientific community.
The ECCO team said in a statement on Instagram that “reports indicate that Charlotte has developed a rare reproductive disease that has adversely affected her reproductive system.”
“Our priority is to focus on Charlotte’s health and well-being,” the ECCO team said in a May 31 statement, “We will work with and be guided by veterinarians and experts to better understand this disease and treatment options for Charlotte.”
While they did not share information about the specific reproductive disease Charlotte has, they did confirm that “research into this disease is limited, we hope that Charlotte’s case and medical treatment will positively contribute to science and benefit others in the future.”
The ECCO team also did not clarify whether Charlotte is still or has ever been pregnant. The organization did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Ahead of the latest news, PEOPLE spoke with Eric Hovland, animal care specialist at the Florida Aquarium earlier this week about the stingray situation. Hovland believes that it would not be possible for Charlotte to mate with a shark because “they both have completely different reproductive systems,” but that “virgin births” are not that uncommon in the animal kingdom.[An animal] it may have less of an advantage because there’s less genetic diversity, but that’s not the main strategy,” says Hovland, who is not on Charlotte’s care team.
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ECCO Team Shark Aquarium and Lab.
HANDOUT/Aquarium & Shark Lab Team ECCO/AFP via Getty Images
Over the past few months, the ECCO team has been unusually quiet about news of Charlotte’s pregnancy — which they discussed in their statement on Friday — leading to many more questions about the fish’s health status. According to Hovland, the typical pregnancy time frame for a stingray like Charlotte might be about three to four months, but the time could vary because parthenogenesis “has not yet been documented in this particular species.” Before revealing the news of Charlotte’s reproductive illness, the latest update from the ECCO team was shared on Facebook on May 17. They said at the time that “Charlotte continues to appear healthy and has shown no changes in behavior or temperament,” but the aquarium has not released any additional photos or videos.
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Charlotte the California Round Ray.
HANDOUT/Aquarium & Shark Lab Team ECCO/AFP via Getty Images
It should be noted that the ECCO team facility is not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Accreditation ensures that facilities such as aquariums and zoos meet certain standards for animal care and public education. It is not a federal requirement that a zoo or aquarium be AZA accredited. Even with all the speculation on social media surrounding Charlotte and the ECCO team, Hovland is glad that “everyone is starting to talk about rays and sharks in a positive light.” “It helps our public build empathy and curiosity about sharks and rays that we hope can become infectious so we can begin to understand the role they play in the wild,” Hovland tells PEOPLE. “It gives me hope that we can start taking care of sharks and rays and start changing our behavior for the better for our whole planet.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education