Stingray NOT having ‘hybrid’ shark babies as expert reveals real reason for mystery pregnancy

A STRINGRAY that made headlines over its mystery conception has had the cause of its pregnancy revealed by one of the aquarium’s experts.

Last week, the Aquarium & Shark Lab by Team Ecco, based in South Carolina, was rocked by the discovery that its stringray Charlotte was pregnant in a tank with no males.

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The discovery baffled the aquarium team, who gave two rare but possible explanations as to how Charlotte became pregnant.

“We’re either going to have partho babies or we’re going to have some kind of a potential mixed breed, and we’re waiting for Jeff Goldblum to show up because we are Jurassic Park right now!,” Brenda Ramer, executive director of Team Ecco told ABC 13 News.

One theory was that Charlotte mated with one of the young male bamboo sharks that also inhabit her tank.

Hybrids are possible between two genetically similar species, that have not long diverged.

A once in a lifetime mystery.

Team Ecco

This would have resulted in the first scientifically documented stingray-shark hybrid.

However, experts at the aquarium have now admitted it would have been “impossible” for Charlotte the stingray to have mated with one of the five small sharks that share her tank, according to the Daily Mail.

Instead, it turns out the second theory was true: Charlotte reproduced all on her own through a process called Parthenogenesis.

Parthenogenesis – how so-called “partho babies” are born – is natural form of asexual reproduction in which an embryo can grow from an unfertilised egg.

The pregnancy had been deemed “a once-in-a-lifetime science mystery,” by the aquarium.

The process is incredibly rare, but has also been seen in other kids of sharks and rays while in human care.

These ‘virgin births’ are thought to be the key to protecting endangered species, and bringing them back from the edge of extinction.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk