Zebra shark at centre of 'virgin birth' mystery

I found this article interesting, it is a report, with video from the BBC regarding a Zebra shark held in an aquarium in Dubai. This shark which is female has never been introduced to a male shark yet for each of the last 4 years she has laid eggs which have been live.

The young are not clones of herself, although all female, they have a slightly different genetic make up, I am at a loss to think how this is possible without the introduction of different genes being introduced to the fertile eggs.

The report goes on to state that this may actually not be an isolated case, but actually one of the reasons that sharks have been so successful and have been around since the time of dinosaurs, just goes to show, we are obsessed with what is out in space, yet we still don't even understand our own planet yet.

Zebra shark at centre of 'virgin birth' mystery

Anyway hope you enjoy this report as much as I did, please leave your thoughts and comments, do we have any marine biologists here? would love to know how this is possible

reply to post by PrinceDreamer


I knew that certain reptiles and amphibious specious could change sex, but I have never heard of a complex organism like a shark self-propagating...!

That is amazing!

If humans still think we are the most complex organisms on the planet, we need to think again...

We might be the most intelligent, but that doesn't always mean much in the ultimate course of survival...

I have had a few girls tell me they were virgins. Each time I later found out that they weren't . The Shark I can believe, Mother Mary and most other women, I'll stick with being a cynic.

reply to post by PrinceDreamer


Yes it was very interesting indeed, but not all surprising they are very well adapt for eternity of the deep. We still don't know a great deal about the creatures of the deep

Parthenogenesis. It happens in some species when there are no mates to be had to keep the species going. Some species have even gone so far as to make males obsolete.

Parthenogenesis: When Animals Reproduce Without a Mate

Sharks are another animal not known, until recently, to be able to reproduce by parthenogenesis. In December of 2001, according to New Scientist, in a tank of three female hammerhead sharks, a shark pup suddenly appeared. Scientists argued for years about how the baby had appeared, and in 2007, after analyzing the pup’s DNA, they found that it was the product of only one animal, its mother.

In 2008, after a blacktip shark died, an autopsy revealed that she had been pregnant with a pup resulting from parthenogenesis. As reported by LiveScience, the shark, named Tidbit, had been in captivity for eight years and had no contact with male sharks during that time. DNA confirmed the parthenogenesis hypothesis. All shark pups resulting from parthenogenesis will be female.

More examples from different species at the link above.

reply to post by Thalestris



Thanks for that, a really interesting article, just goes to show how much we (by that I mean me) or in this case how little we really know about our planet

reply to post by PrinceDreamer


Where is the baby shark now? I am coming to bring it great tidings of joy....as well as some frankincense and myrrh (I've been told it's appropriate gifts in this sort of situation)

Originally posted by bhornbuckle75
reply to post by PrinceDreamer

 

Where is the baby shark now? I am coming to bring it great tidings of joy....as well as some frankincense and myrrh (I've been told it's appropriate gifts in this sort of situation)

Lol I nearly make some sort of joke about it too in reference to Mary, how perhaps she was the first shark to walk on land, but I wanted the topic to stay on focus rather than get 300 pages of scriptures quoted at me but it does beg a question, if this is possible within certain species of animals who is to say that perhaps Mary (if the stories are true, and I know it is a stretch of imagination for the non religious of us all) was perhaps not a genetic deviation

Originally posted by PrinceDreamer

Originally posted by bhornbuckle75
reply to post by PrinceDreamer

 

Where is the baby shark now? I am coming to bring it great tidings of joy....as well as some frankincense and myrrh (I've been told it's appropriate gifts in this sort of situation)

Lol I nearly make some sort of joke about it too in reference to Mary, how perhaps she was the first shark to walk on land, but I wanted the topic to stay on focus rather than get 300 pages of scriptures quoted at me

but it does beg a question, if this is possible within certain species of animals who is to say that perhaps Mary (if the stories are true, and I know it is a stretch of imagination for the non religious of us all) was perhaps not a genetic deviation

Interesting thought! Of course I'd imagine you'd get a lot of flack from the Biblical Literalists about that theory.....and the scientists would probably be pretty skeptical since (as far as I know) Parthenogenesis births have never been known to happen in mammals....Then again, it's certainly a plausible theory within the bounds of what we know about biology......it happens with some animals...why not us from time to time?

reply to post by bhornbuckle75


But if all pups born by parthenogenisis are female that would rule out having a male savior. I thought of that as well but it would not fit this situation. The child would be a clone of the mother basically with maybe a few small variances from hidden genes.

Interesting thought! Of course I'd imagine you'd get a lot of flack from the Biblical Literalists about that theory.....and the scientists would probably be pretty skeptical since (as far as I know) Parthenogenesis births have never been known to happen in mammals....Then again, it's certainly a plausible theory within the bounds of what we know about biology......it happens with some animals...why not us from time to time?

This is true, it's not known of naturally in mammals but it can be induced, much like the cloning process. And yes, the progeny would all be females.

'Virgin birth' mammal rewrites rules of biology

Parthenogenesis Wiki

JESUS SHARKS!!!

So Malcolm was correct....

Amazing how much was correct in that movie...


ETA... apparently women DON'T need men... now relationships make SO much more sense...

I'm gonna have to go with alien abduction on this one... Same as Mary Just kidding, but hey who knows. If abductions happen with humans, why not animals?

Originally posted by Thalestris

Interesting thought! Of course I'd imagine you'd get a lot of flack from the Biblical Literalists about that theory.....and the scientists would probably be pretty skeptical since (as far as I know) Parthenogenesis births have never been known to happen in mammals....Then again, it's certainly a plausible theory within the bounds of what we know about biology......it happens with some animals...why not us from time to time?

This is true, it's not known of naturally in mammals but it can be induced, much like the cloning process. And yes, the progeny would all be females.

'Virgin birth' mammal rewrites rules of biology

Parthenogenesis Wiki

actually according to the article posted by Thalestris
www.findingdulcinea.com... The idea that all Parthenogenisis births will be female is a myth.