A stingray named Charlotte has sparked a mystery online after it was discovered she was pregnant without a male ray in sight.
The stingray resides in a tank at a North Carolina aquarium, and was found covered in shark bites – which is a strong indicator of shark mating – and it has caused speculation on who the father of her babies is.
The Aquarium and Shark Lab in Hendersonville, North Carolina, hosted a Facebook Live last week explaining Charlotte the stingray was pregnant. The round stingray is believed to be aged 12 to 16 years and is pregnant with three to four pups.
And while her caretakers are excited for her, they’re stunned because they don’t have a male ray in the aquarium.
Brenda Ramer, founder and executive director of Team ECCO, said in the video: “The unique thing about Charlotte is we do not have a male ray.”
Reports say Charlotte hasn’t been with a male ray for eight years.
But they do have theories on what could have happened, with Charlotte living in the same tank as two young male sharks, and with her being covered in shark bites, there is potential that it’s cross-breeding.
Ramer added: “We didn’t think anything about it until one day we were kind of like, ‘Oh my gosh. Sharks bite when they mate.
“…There is a potential she mated with one of these young male sharks.”
But experts have weighed in to say it’s not possible, with another, and more solid theory, being parthenogenesis, the rare phenomenon where it’s a miracle or ‘virgin’ birth. It’s rare, but it still happens.
When this happens, smaller cells separate from the mother’s eggs and merge with the egg to create offspring. Now while it happens with the mother’s eggs and DNA, they aren’t clones but are extremely similar.
Charlotte is due within two weeks, and whether there is no father or a shark dad, it’s quite the tale.
The topic went viral on social media, with one person joking: “Did Nick Cannon visit the aquarium recently?”
Another said: “I wanna stay on pregnant stingray TikTok.”
And a third added: “Now imagine how confused Charlotte must be”.
