It's a miracle! Well, sort of. A female white spotted bamboo shark who hasn't been near a male in six years is now the proud mom of the Belle Isle Aquarium's two newest additions.
So what's the catch? There is none. The curator of fishes at the Detroit aquarium told National Geographic he'd heard of a bonnethead shark that supposedly had a "virgin birth" in Nebraska last year, so when the bamboo shark laid a cluth of eggs in April, he decided to leave them in the tank with her. Usually the eggs are assumed to be infertile and discarded.
Eventually moved to another tank, the eggs hatched 15 weeks after they'd been laid - without ever being touched by a male shark or any other form of intervention. The birth has scientists pondering the possibilities that the bamboo shark may be hermaphroditic or perhaps has been storing sperm from a male for the past six years (although the latter has been largely discounted). Genetic testing will have to be done before any real determination can be made, and that will take some time. In the meantime, the aquarium will not be discarding future clutches of eggs laid by its female sharks.
Sharks have been getting a bad rap since the '70s when Roy Scheider made us all fear the water, but I'm starting to warm to these cold-blooded creatures. Imagine, you don't even have to tell him you have a headache . . . and you still get a baby!
Image: Shark Foundation, egg of a white-spotted shark
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