Expected "miracle birth" from a stingray in a North Carolina lab that may have been pregnant by a shark

Expected "miracle birth" from a stingray in a North Carolina lab that may have been pregnant by a shark

Because of the unique nature of this pregnancy, staff members first believed the swelling they began to see in September to be cancer.

Along with some exciting new items, Hendersonville's aquarium and shark laboratory is about to see a miracle birth.

Charlotte the pregnant stingray lives at the downtown Hendersonville Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO.

However, since this is not your typical pregnancy, staff members believed Charlotte's swelling, which they first saw in September, to be cancer.

Why? Since there were no male stingrays in the tank, they reasoned that she couldn't possibly get pregnant.

Charlotte may still get pregnant in one of two ways, and the staff won't be able to determine which method until the pups are delivered.

One is a highly uncommon procedure known as parthenogenesis, in which the mother is cloned by the eggs growing on their own without fertilization.

Charlotte, our ray, has been the subject of ultrasounds since September, when her'swelling' began. We recorded many 'growths' inside and first believed she had cancer," Raymer said in an email on February 1. "Dr. Rob Jones, an aquarium veterinarian, recognized the growths as eggs when I contacted him. There aren't any male rays here. He said that parthenogenesis in rays had occurred in a few occasions. Are."

The second theory for Charlotte's pregnancy, according to the creator of the aquarium, is closer to "Jurassic Park" territory: Charlotte may have mated with one of the baby sharks who were brought to the tank in July.

We moved two 1-year-old male white-spotted bamboo sharks to the tank in the middle of July 2023. We didn't anticipate there would be a problem since we couldn't discover any conclusive information on their maturity rates," Remmer said. "We started to see bite marks on Charlotte, although noticed other fish had attacked her, so we removed the fish, but their attacks continued."

According to Brenda, bite marks are a sign of mating in sharks because they occur when the sharks bite each other. Charlotte's fin edges bore many bite marks.

Charlotte is carrying four pups, according to Remmer, and she may give birth at any moment. After birth, the pups' DNA will be examined to see if they are indeed clones of their mother or are a mixed breed. Ramer said that he anticipates Charlotte will give birth on Friday, February 9, the day of the full moon. According to him, Team ECCO's Facebook page and website will have all updates.

A stingray typically gives birth between three to four months.

The only marine education lab and experiential learning facility in the WNC mountains as well as upstate of South Carolina is the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO near Hendersonville, North Carolina.

The team educates, runs North Carolina's first inland aquarium, and engages in ocean-based outreach (6,500 participants in 2023).

The aquarium and lab had over 11,000 visitors in 2023.

With Beneath the Waves, the crew gained expertise shark tagging, and in 2022, they created the curriculum for the first Kids Camp on Exuma.