In North Carolina, there's been a recent controversy about a pregnant stingray at the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO. One pregnant stingray with two white-spotted bamboo male sharks...is it possible!? Smithsonian Magazine wrote that staff said Charlotte the stingray had bite marks on her, which could be a sign of shark mating. Would a shark-ray be a cute hybrid or creepy?? Well, Charlotte the stingray can prove the impossible...or perhaps not.
(not a image of Charlotte) Image Source
When news of a stingray getting pregnant without any male rays in her tank, people began asking questions! At the beginning, staff discovered growths swelling on Charlotte's body, assuming it could be cancer until the ultrasound was conducted. Is it possible that a shark and stingray can reproduce? As interesting as it may sound, it's not scientifically possible! In fact, it's common along stingrays to asexually reproduce like 80 other vertebrate species; including, zebra sharks, California condors, Komodo dragons, crocodiles, and more. It's a known process called parthenogenesis, meaning virgin birth or creation. According to NBCnews.com, parthenogenesis is common during meiosis (cells that create new organisms during sexual reproduction), "eggs are produced, byproducts are created called polar bodies, which contain genetic information." Parthenogenesis is most common when animals are in human care rather than the wild. It's not 100% confirmed why some species do this but scientists have theorized it could be a lack of mate or the last option to save a species.
How come a shark and stingray can't reproduce? It's actually simple! Kevin Feldheim, researcher at Chicago's Field Museum states, "The divergence between sharks and stingrays is 350 million years. And as comparison, the divergence between humans and platypus is 180 millions years." However, there are some species that can create "hybrids" because of their similar genes. Factanimal.com provides examples of real-life animal hybrids; including, coywolf, liger, wolfdog, Bengal cat, mule, zonkey, and more! Crossbreeds/hybrid animals are offspring of subspecies mating.
Even though the thought of a shark-stingray hybrid could be cool, it's not possible. Nonetheless, hybrid animals between species with similar genetics do exist! It's important to learn about biology and do research on a species before spreading a false rumor. Pure reason I wanted to write this blog as when I heard about Charlotte, I was cringing at the fact people truly believed a shark and stingray could reproduce with each other.
Let's hope Charlotte has a safe and healthy pregnancy!!
First off, I appreciate that you took the time to customize your blog by adding some Dakota flare to it.
ReplyDeleteThis was an enjoyable read from the wild title to highly informative paragraphs within the blog itself. I personally would've never come across this on my own time, so thanks for this.
I could feel the passion that you have for animals within your writing, and it made me want to keep reading the entire time. Nice work!
I really enjoyed reading about this topic! When the news came around I definitely thought it was crazy, but possible. It's good to know that it is not possible and that she probably just asexually reproduced.
ReplyDelete-Abigail Rangel
This is such a cool topic to have picked! I absolutely love sea critters and the anomalies they bring to our world. And the way you hooked me with the false lead of the two completely different creatures being able to breed was so cool, I genuinely was like... What? Did they really?? Nice job overall!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard about Charlotte I was like there's no way we are about to get shark-ray pups. I didn't really look much into it since I thought it was just another clickbait story. I loved learning the real story and I always wondered if stingrays could asexually reproduce. Great way of writing and putting this post together!
ReplyDeleteHearing about this from this blog was kind of mind blowing, but unsurprisingly there are no sting-shark babies! Its kinda funny how this whole situation started, but I did't know that stingrays could reproduce asexually! I figured It was going to be like a frog situation where a stingray switched genders and impregnated another before people realized it. haha
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