ara87
10-14-2008, 02:07 PM
Scientists confirm shark's ‘virgin birth’
Pup carried by Atlantic blacktip shark contained no male genetic material
http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/8782/gtech081010shark4ahmedilm7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27107721/
The mother had been in a tank with no male sharks of her species for 8 years, leading officials to believe that she had mated with a male shark of another species. However DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female Atlantic blacktip shark in the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center contained no genetic material from a male. She died before giving birth due to complications from the unknown pregnancy.
This is a second documented case of a virgin birth in a shark.
How'd it happen?
The newly formed pups acquired one set of chromosomes when the mother's chromosomes split during egg development, then united anew.
Pup carried by Atlantic blacktip shark contained no male genetic material
http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/8782/gtech081010shark4ahmedilm7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27107721/
The mother had been in a tank with no male sharks of her species for 8 years, leading officials to believe that she had mated with a male shark of another species. However DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female Atlantic blacktip shark in the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center contained no genetic material from a male. She died before giving birth due to complications from the unknown pregnancy.
This is a second documented case of a virgin birth in a shark.
How'd it happen?
The newly formed pups acquired one set of chromosomes when the mother's chromosomes split during egg development, then united anew.