stephanier.1765 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Here's an article about it: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/stingray-charlotte-prgnancy-shark-myster-b2494790.html I don't know what I'm hoping for: clones or baby shark/stingrays. Either's pretty interesting. 5 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 I am rooting for a shark/stingray romcom. 1 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 I saw it today. Crazy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 I have been waiting impatiently to find out since the other day when I read it! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Interesting! Thanks for sharing the link- I hadn’t heard this story yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 I'm rooting for the shark-stingray hybrid because I'm so curious what it would look like! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanier.1765 Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 9 minutes ago, Corraleno said: I'm rooting for the shark-stingray hybrid because I'm so curious what it would look like! What would we call them? Sharkrays? Stingsharks? Or a shorter name like Stark? LOL I can't wait to see them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popmom Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 I had not! That is so interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danae Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Every reaction I’ve seen from marine biologists has been a massive eye roll along with the information that stingray parthenogenesis is a known thing and stingrays and sharks are not genetically close enough to cross-breed. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartstrings Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 17 minutes ago, Danae said: Every reaction I’ve seen from marine biologists has been a massive eye roll along with the information that stingray parthenogenesis is a known thing and stingrays and sharks are not genetically close enough to cross-breed. Well that’s boring. We want sharks with sting ray wings and barbed tails to add to our nightmares, not settled science. 1 2 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace Hopper Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 1 hour ago, Danae said: Every reaction I’ve seen from marine biologists has been a massive eye roll along with the information that stingray parthenogenesis is a known thing and stingrays and sharks are not genetically close enough to cross-breed. Yes rolling eyes here. I mean it’s a neat story but far from the first time an aquatic animal has done this - changed sex later in life or self-reproduced. I imagine it’s been a great marketing point for the aquarium, though! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 You know, this is kind of a bummer. I mean this kind of thing is so common with many species, Komodo Dragons do it too. But still, we have so much nasty in the world, it sure would have been fun to have some sort of monster baby, sharkey sting ray that is has super powers. 😁 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace Hopper Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 34 minutes ago, Faith-manor said: You know, this is kind of a bummer. I mean this kind of thing is so common with many species, Komodo Dragons do it too. But still, we have so much nasty in the world, it sure would have been fun to have some sort of monster baby, sharkey sting ray that is has super powers. 😁 Neat, fun, exciting, sure! But I can imagine how quickly some would turn it into some kind of doomsday omen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 54 minutes ago, Faith-manor said: You know, this is kind of a bummer. I mean this kind of thing is so common with many species, Komodo Dragons do it too. But still, we have so much nasty in the world, it sure would have been fun to have some sort of monster baby, sharkey sting ray that is has super powers. 😁 But there already is a sharkey sting ray! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhina_ancylostoma 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 12 minutes ago, Amira said: But there already is a sharkey sting ray! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhina_ancylostoma Ooh, cool creature! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 The discussions about this online have been really interesting. For example, the argument that interbreeding between a shark and a ray is genetically impossible because they are far too distantly related, having diverged 200 million years ago, was countered by a biologist mentioning the accidental interbreeding in 2020 of Russian sturgeon and American paddlefish, which diverged 140 million years ago and were also assumed to be far too distantly related to interbreed: "The accident came about as scientists at the Research Institute for Fisheries and Aquaculture in Hungary were trying to ascertain if introducing asexual reproduction into paddlefish and sturgeon could protect their population numbers, which are plummeting in the face of overfishing, pollution, and habitat loss. Instead of ending up with lots of paddlefish and sturgeon clones, they found themselves with a new animal altogether, and since – despite their evolutionary distance – these two species share some physical traits, the resulting offspring appear to be surviving. ... Like many other hybrids, the offspring were sterile, but the unexpected result of housing these two very, very distantly related species goes to show that sometimes life really does, uh, find a way." The possibility of bamboo sharks and stingrays successfully interbreeding is far less likely since bamboo sharks lay eggs and stingrays give live birth, but I thought the info about sturgeon and paddlefish was really interesting! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanier.1765 Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 3 hours ago, Amira said: But there already is a sharkey sting ray! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhina_ancylostoma Yikes, its eyes, but so very cool! I love learning about things like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cecropia Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 I hope that it's parthenogenesis, because the idea of cross-breeding makes me imagine a male shark sexually harassing the female ray until she was exhausted and he was successful. I know that's applying human ethics to animals, but I admittedly get uncomfortable with that behavior within a species. It feels extra squicky across distant species. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 5 hours ago, Cecropia said: I hope that it's parthenogenesis, because the idea of cross-breeding makes me imagine a male shark sexually harassing the female ray until she was exhausted and he was successful. I know that's applying human ethics to animals, but I admittedly get uncomfortable with that behavior within a species. It feels extra squicky across distant species. Don't ever keep ducks then. Drakes are sex maniacs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Two other possibilities which occur in other ectotherms- The first is that if she was ever with a male, a lot of species can retain sperm for YEARS. There have been some "parthenogenesis" cases that, after genetic testing turned out to be a chance encounter in a shipping container before the animal got to that zoo or aquarium. And, a really cool option-some all female species are kleptogenetic-they mate with members of other species, and use their genetic material selectively. As far as I know, it hasn't been documented in any species that HAS both males and females. And there have been a LOT of cross-breeds in snakes that occured in captivity that would never occur in the wild-which has, in some cases, caused reclassification of species because "well, guess they're more closely related than we thought!" Like basically any king snake can interbreed and have fertile offspring with any rat snake, despite being different genus. One thing I've learned from having a kid with a special interest in herps---if we think it can't happen, it's because we haven't seen it happen yet...not that it's impossible. And there are good reasons why the herpetology and Icthyology folks do meetings together and a lot of jobs are for both. Regardless, it's getting the aquarium a lot of press, and probably a lot of visitors and donations. And that's a great thing for conservation. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 (edited) On 2/13/2024 at 9:12 AM, Heartstrings said: Well that’s boring. We want sharks with sting ray wings and barbed tails to add to our nightmares, not settled science. 20 hours ago, Amira said: But there already is a sharkey sting ray! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhina_ancylostoma And angel sharks. There really is a shark for everyone. Oops. Corrected with pic. Edited February 14 by Murphy101 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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