While “virgin births” are something we’ve read on the pages of books, it’s not something that happens every day. An aquarium in Chicago has left researchers stunned after they discovered a female zebra shark hatched pups without any genetic material from a male.
Shedd Aquarium confirmed that the female shark, nicknamed Bubbles, hatched pups in the tank that she also shares with multiple other adult zebra sharks. It was originally believed that the babies were fathered by a male shark in the tank but genetic testing proved otherwise.
The testing was done on the pups to conduct research related to a breeding program for zebra sharks, which is when researchers made the discovery that Bubbles was the sole parent of the babies. It turns out that Bubbles was able to reproduce via parthenogenesis or “virgin birth” where a female will fertilize eggs with her own genetic material.
Zebra sharks have been known to reproduce asexually on rare occasions but it was believed to be a response to a lack of available male mates. Bubbles had plenty of mates available and still reproduced on her own.
“This discovery throws a wrench in what we thought we knew about how and why parthenogenesis happens, and it illustrates a key aspect of science: we’re continually learning,” Kevin Feldhim, a researcher at Chicago’s Field Museum, said.
Source: https://www.sheddaquarium.org/about-shedd/press-releases/zebra-shark-parthenogenesis-study