Hammerhead sharks can reproduce asexually?
- Thread starter ewurm
- Start date
I know the guys at Omaha very well (It's the sister facility to Dallas World Aq). The shark that everyone claimed to be "virgin birth" was not. Female shark will hold male sperm internally for years (preserving it) if they feel that the evironment is not right for pupping out. No trace of male genetics would mean all offspring would be female, which didn't happen in these cases.
It's been documented several times.
Interesting concept, but needs more proof.
It's been documented several times.
Interesting concept, but needs more proof.
I have heard of this and read this story a few times. I have the same outlook as Matt, it would be cool and a new discovery but all the information really outrules this being a true virgin birth.
One of my lfs has a large female brownbanded bamboo shark that they raised from an egg that has never been kept with a male. She is large and well fed and lives in their reef tank pond. Recently she has started laying eggs that appear to be fertile and also seems to be protecting them getting agitated when the staff touches them or moves them. I new bamboo sharks could reproduce by parthenogenesis but will they protect their eggs or is the lfs staff just bsing?
Ski
Ski
Yea - To say the Female sharks hasn't been around a male shark in 3 years - so the pups must be the product of a "virgin birth", is really a BS way of looking at it - scientifically speaking.
Especially when a very scientifically, and realistic idea already exists - as expertly pointed out by Matt(Zoodiver).
Especially when a very scientifically, and realistic idea already exists - as expertly pointed out by Matt(Zoodiver).
Ok, just to add irony to this, the aquarium actually used this story today on our website (shakes head in shame). http://www.sharky.tv/news.html
Records show female sharks holding viable sperm for between 5 and 7 years depending on which research you look at. This hammerhead news is still lacking in my opinion. If no gentic variation was seen in the DNA, that means one thing : brother / sister mating. It's not uncommon to see that in sharks - especially captive animals or animals in areas of low population. You take male and female DNA of the same offspring and pair them, you end up with odd DNA combinations. It's something we really have to watch when using captive breeding groups in displays. We have to keep very good records of who is who and where they came from to stay on top of it. (For example: Aquarium A has animal X. They send some of x to Aquarium B and Aquarium C. Aquarium D gets what they hope to be a breeding pair: Male from B and female from C. Unknown to them, they now have a bro/sis pair to breed. Any off spring from thta group now has a slight inbred trait. If someone from D then sends offspring of there's back to A thinking they are mixing the gene pool to keep it growing, they are actually closing the loop tighter.)
As for bamboo's guarding eggs, I've never seen it or even heard of it. Females can lay eggs all they want with no male, but they aren't fertilzed.
Records show female sharks holding viable sperm for between 5 and 7 years depending on which research you look at. This hammerhead news is still lacking in my opinion. If no gentic variation was seen in the DNA, that means one thing : brother / sister mating. It's not uncommon to see that in sharks - especially captive animals or animals in areas of low population. You take male and female DNA of the same offspring and pair them, you end up with odd DNA combinations. It's something we really have to watch when using captive breeding groups in displays. We have to keep very good records of who is who and where they came from to stay on top of it. (For example: Aquarium A has animal X. They send some of x to Aquarium B and Aquarium C. Aquarium D gets what they hope to be a breeding pair: Male from B and female from C. Unknown to them, they now have a bro/sis pair to breed. Any off spring from thta group now has a slight inbred trait. If someone from D then sends offspring of there's back to A thinking they are mixing the gene pool to keep it growing, they are actually closing the loop tighter.)
As for bamboo's guarding eggs, I've never seen it or even heard of it. Females can lay eggs all they want with no male, but they aren't fertilzed.
