Lonely female stingray mysteriously became pregnant (5 photos)

North Carolina Aquarium staff discovered that a lone female stingray was awaiting a new addition. However, in addition to her, only a male shark lives in the aquarium...





Charlotte will have children any day now, but her pregnancy came as a shock to everyone. Team ECCO staff noticed changes in the stingray's appearance back in September and thought it might be a tumor. An ultrasound examination showed that the female was in position.



"We've been doing ultrasounds on Charlotte since September. We saw multiple 'growths' inside and initially thought she had cancer," employee Ramer said Feb. 1.

There are two possible explanations for the mysterious fertilization. The first is a process known as "parthenogenesis." This is when the eggs develop on their own, without fertilization, and create a clone of the mother.





“I contacted veterinarian Rob Jones, and he determined that the growths were eggs,” says Ramer. “We don’t have any male stingrays. He said that cases of parthenogenesis in stingrays are rare.”

The second explanation may seem crazy. Staff believe the female may have been impregnated by one of the male sharks they placed in her tank in mid-July.



"In mid-July 2023, we introduced two yearling male whitespot sharks into the tank. We started noticing bite marks on Charlotte and saw fish biting her, so we moved them in, but the bites kept coming back."



"Bite marks are an indicator of mating in sharks," another employee explained, adding that Charlotte had several bite marks on the edges of her fins.

The cubs will undergo a DNA test that will determine whether they are a mixed species or clones of their mother.

The gestation period for stingrays is three to four months. These cartilaginous fish are closely related to sharks and belong to a subclass called Elasmobranchs. Many stingrays prefer to live alone and only come together to breed and migrate.