Stingray Was Not Impregnated by Shark: Aquarium

UPDATE Jun 4, 2024 1:40 AM CDT

In a sad update to the mystery of the stingray in a North Carolina aquarium that some speculated had been impregnated by a shark, aquarium officials have now announced the stingray actually has a rare ailment, ABC News reports. Lab testing and other data (including the fact that the ray never gave birth as predicted) revealed the stingray was never pregnant, but has an illness (aquarium officials have not yet determined a specific diagnosis) that "negatively impacted her reproductive system." Veterinarians and other specialists are working on a treatment plan.

Feb 12, 2024 11:30 AM CST

A North Carolina aquarium has announced the pregnancy of one of its stringrays, but there's a twist. "We have no male ray," writes the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team Ecco in Hendersonville. Two possible explanations are now in play, one of them scientific and the other a little more earthy.

• No males needed: One theory is that the stringray became pregnant through what's called parthenogenesis—"asexual reproduction of an organism in which a female produces an embryo without a male present to fertilize the egg," writes Dr. April Smith, executive director the North Carolina Science Trail, in a blog post. This has been previously documented in rays.

• A shark? The aquarium says the other possibility is that one of two white-spot bamboo sharks that were moved into the tank last summer is the father, reports Fox Carolina, which adds that cross-breeding between rays and sharks is possible.

Aquarium scientists had been leaning toward parthenogenesis until they noticed some telltale clues on the ray—bite marks, which are a sign of shark mating, per Yahoo News. An ultrasound suggests the stingray will have at least two and perhaps three pups any day now. DNA tests will settle the paternity issue once and for all. (Just in case you forgot about this.)