A female zebra shark in a Townsville, Australia aquarium gave birth last year to a litter of three pups despite not having been exposed to a male of the species in over four years.
Testing, revealed this week in the journal, Scientific Reports, show that the contain only the mother’s DNA and that the baby sharks were produced asexually.
“It would seem to be highly advantageous,” University of New South Wales biologist Russell Bonduriansky told New Science. “It could be much more common than we currently realise.”
This is not the first time that captive elasmobranchs have conceived young without a partner. The behavior has been recorded in other species of sharks and eagle rays when there is no male partner.
Source: New Scientist
