The North Carolina Aquarium is about to witness a miraculous virgin birth or the birth of a virtually unheard of shark-stingray hybrid.
According to Team Ecco in the NC Aquarium’s shark lab, Charlotte the female stingray is now somehow pregnant, in spit of no male stingrays in her habitat.
With an ultrasound confirming the stingray is carrying eggs, researchers are now exploring the possibility of asexual reproduction, known as parthenogenesis, as a possible explanation. They also say the birth could be some kind of cross-species hybrid, as her pregnancy coincided with the recent addition of two young white-spot bamboo sharks to her tank.
“We have been doing ultrasound on our ray, Charlotte, since September, when she began to “swell”,” said NC Aquarium Executive Director April Smith in a press release. “We documented multiple “growths” internally and initially thought she had a cancer. I reached out to Dr. Rob Jones, the Aquarium Vet, and he identified the “growths” as eggs. We have no male ray.”
Charlotte the stingray at the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team Ecco in North Carolina is expecting pups any day—the only problem is they have no idea how she became pregnant. https://t.co/OCgbNzxEur
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 10, 2024
The aquarium is now anticipating Charlotte’s birth in the coming days or weeks and possibly gaining insights into the rare phenomenon of stingray reproduction.
