Team ECCO’s Aquarium and Shark Lab said the stingray shared a pool with a male shark and had bite marks on its fins indicating the shark had mated.
A stingray living in a North Carolina aquarium may have been fertilized by a shark.
The ECCO Team Aquarium & Shark Lab in Hendersonville announced Tuesday in a Facebook post that its stingray, Charlotte, was born. The aquarium called Charlotte’s pregnancy a “once-in-a-lifetime scientific mystery” because, at the time she was inseminated, there were no male rays in the aquarium with her.
The aquarium explained in a statement to ABC 13 News that there are two ways Charlotte could have gotten pregnant.
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One rare process of asexual reproduction is called parthenogenesis, in which eggs develop into embryos without fertilization. If the cubs are produced this way, they will be Charlotte clones.
Brenda Ramer, executive director of Team ECCO, explained to ABC 13 News that another way Charlotte could have gotten pregnant was by a one-year-old male bamboo shark that was moved into the aquarium with her in July 2023.
“We started noticing bite marks on Charlotte, but we saw other fish nibbling on her, so we moved the fish, but the bites continued,” Ramer said, adding that bite marks indicate mating in sharks. Charlotte had bite marks on the edges of her flippers, she noticed.
Staff discovered Charlotte’s pregnancy in September after they first noticed a “swelling” on the animal that they initially thought was cancer, Ramer told the news outlet. The aquarium’s veterinarian, Dr. Rob Jones, later confirmed that the stingray had produced three to four eggs.
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Charlotte is thought to be carrying up to four cubs and could give birth at any time as the stingray’s gestation period is between three and four months.
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The aquarium won’t know until they are born if the pups are Charlotte clones produced by parthenogenesis or, as Ramer called it, “potential hybrids.” DNA testing will likely be done on the cubs after they arrive.
PEOPLE reached out to ECCO’s Aquarium & Shark Lab team for more details on the stingray’s unusual pregnancy.
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Source: HIS Education