Lone Blacktip shark was pregnant

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aro-guy246;1031794; said:
I (gf of aro-guy246) actually work at the Virgina Aquarium and know all the sharks pretty well. And I have co-workers that have been with the aquarium for years. Tidbit was only 10 years old when she passed and we have had her for a good portion of her life. Since black-tip reef sharks don't become sexually mature until they are about 7 there isn't a chance that she could have become pregnant before coming to our facility. I am not saying that it is parthenogenesis for sure but we will see when the results come back what happened. If I hear anything I will be sure to keep everyone informed.
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Yes please do keep us informed, as I am sure we would all love to know what you guys find. ;)
 
I know it has been a LONG time but the results are finally in and I thought you would all like to know. It has been confirmed and published in the journal of fish biology that they pup found in the womb of the black-tip (tid-bit) was the result of parthenogenesis! The DNA of the pup was a perfect match to mom, no DNA from a male shark at all. So all of you that were skeptical we have some pretty definitive proof. Anyways I said that I would tell you as soon as I knew so there it is!
 
I am not sure but I can find out. All I know of the testing right now is that it was done by the same lab that conducted the test for the case with the parthenogenesis in the hammerhead from Nebraska. I realize that there are a few months uncounted for but these were the first months of the sharks life (well before the age of maturity in blacktips). We aquired her at a very young age and have had her without any male at all from the time that we got her. I understand that we are scientists and we always question but there is almost no chance that she had sperm from a male which created the pup. Also I know the aquarist (curator) that the shark bit very well and she had known tid-bit from when we had gotten her. Anyways that is my opinion on the topic.
 
I know Mitch and the Omaha crew well.
I'm just worried people will jump on board an idea that doesn't hold water (no pun intended). I've seen alot of evidence for it, but nothing 100 percent concrete. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for punching holes in evolutionary theroy.... I just like to make sure there aren't gaps that go unaccounted for.

One thing that has come up in conversations is if we can accept and explore single parent births, should we also be more open minded to earlier (non mature) breeding and sperm storage as well?
 
Yes I do agree with you when you say that we don't want to jump into things too quickly and I understand that there always a possibilty for sperm storage and etc when we don't know the entire history of the animal. And we can rarely say in science that something is true without a doubt we can only go by what the evidence shows. So in tid-bit's case we can only go with the extremely strong evidence/ DNA evidence that shows parthenogenesis. I suppose there is a chance that a case like this could be a result of sprem storage but in tid-bit's case I have a little bit of a hard time believing that a >18 month old shark could/would mate with a 7+ year old mature male shark. I would just like to say as part of the viriginia crew that it has been quite the journey to get to this point (the bite (her recovery), the discovery of the pup, and then the waiting and waiting for the DNA results). I do appreciate your ideas, opinions and expertise on the topic it has made me think that's for sure and I hope I may have provided some insight into my side of things as well.
 
well the first one was a hammerhead so the baby being a hammerhead kinda rules out hybridization. what other secies was the blacktip with?
 
aro-guy246;2298204; said:
I know it has been a LONG time but the results are finally in and I thought you would all like to know. It has been confirmed and published in the journal of fish biology that they pup found in the womb of the black-tip (tid-bit) was the result of parthenogenesis! The DNA of the pup was a perfect match to mom, no DNA from a male shark at all. So all of you that were skeptical we have some pretty definitive proof. Anyways I said that I would tell you as soon as I knew so there it is!
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:woot::woot::woot::shark:
 
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