Current:Home > BackMystery Behind Pregnant Stingray With No Male Companion Will Have You Hooked-LoTradeCoin
Mystery Behind Pregnant Stingray With No Male Companion Will Have You Hooked
View Date:2024-12-23 16:56:20
An aquarium in North Carolina is left stunned after their stingray became pregnant without any interactions from males of her species.
Charlotte—a round stingray estimated to be between 12 and 16 years old—is carrying as many as four pups despite being the only stingray living in her tank, according to the Aquarium & Shark Lab by Team ECCO in Hendersonville. The pregnancy was confirmed when specialists performed an ultrasound on Charlotte after noticing some swelling on her body.
"Our stingray, Charlotte, is expecting!" a Feb. 6 Facebook post from the aquarium read. "The really amazing thing is we have no male ray!"
Indeed, Charlotte is a single lady who has not had another male stingray in her tank for at least eight years, per the Associated Press. She does, however, have two bamboo sharks named Moe and Larry for tankmates.
So, could one of them be the dad? Don't go running to Maury Povich just yet.
"We should set the record straight," Dr. Kady Lyons, a marine research scientist who is not involved in the Aquarium & Shark Lab, told AP, "that there aren't some shark-ray shenanigans happening here."
Instead, she said it's likely that Charlotte has undergone parthenogenesis, a type of asexual reproduction in which an embryo develops without fertilization from sperm.
The phenomenon can occur in amphibians, birds, reptiles and fish such as sharks, skates and—of course—rays.
"I'm not surprised, because nature finds a way of having this happen," Lyon said. "We don't know why it happens. Just that it's kind of this really neat phenomenon that they seem to be able to do."
And Charlotte is due "any day now," according to Kinsley Boyette, the assistant director of the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO.
"We are on pup watch," Boyette told local paper Hendersonville Times-News on Feb. 14, adding that Charlotte "will do whatever she wants to do."
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (82132)
Related
- High-scoring night in NBA: Giannis Antetokounmpo explodes for 59, Victor Wembanyama for 50
- What the health care sector is selling to Wall Street: The first trillion-dollar drug company is out there
- Memphis utility lifts boil water advisory after 5 days
- America is hitting peak 65 in 2024 as record number of boomers reach retirement age. Here's what to know.
- Arkansas governor unveils $102 million plan to update state employee pay plan
- 'Locked in’: Ravens adopted QB Lamar Jackson’s motto while watching him ascend in 2023
- Why Joe Biden isn't on the 2024 New Hampshire primary ballot — and what it means for the election
- North Dakota judge won’t block part of abortion law doctors say puts them at risk of prosecution
- Disney Store's Black Friday Sale Just Started: Save an Extra 20% When You Shop Early
- Adrian Beltré, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame
Ranking
- Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani wins reelection to Arizona US House seat
- Apple's Stolen Device Protection feature is now live. Here's how it can help protect your iPhone.
- Trial delayed for man who says he fatally shot ex-Saints star Will Smith in self-defense
- How America Ferrera’s Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Costars Celebrated Her Oscar Nomination
- New Yorkers vent their feelings over the election and the Knicks via subway tunnel sticky notes
- Man sentenced to life in prison for the fatal shooting of a deputy U.S. marshal in Arizona in 2018
- Netflix buys rights to WWE Raw, other shows in live streaming push
- Caitlin Clark incident at Ohio State raises concerns about how to make storming court safe
Recommendation
-
John Krasinski Details Moment He Knew Wife Emily Blunt Was “the One”
-
Rights center says Belarusian authorities have arrested scores of people in latest crackdown
-
Drone the size of a bread slice may allow Japan closer look inside damaged Fukushima nuclear plant
-
Malaria mass-vaccination program launches in Cameroon, bringing hope as Africa battles surging infections
-
After Baltimore mass shooting, neighborhood goes full year with no homicides
-
Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris defends $5 million in loans to Hunter Biden
-
How do I ask an employer to pay for relocation costs? Ask HR
-
Memphis utility lifts boil water advisory after 5 days