Virgin births are common for animals like starfish, bees and lizards — but among vertebrates, it’s rare. A process called parthenogenesis allows some females to fertilize an egg with their own genetic material.
One of the Shedd Aquarium’s female zebra sharks, named Bubbles, did exactly that.
“I said, ‘Holy "S," that’s really cool. Why did that happen?’” said Kevin Feldheim. “You know, you get these aha moments in science, right, where you’re like, ‘Oh my God, that’s so cool.’ So, it was kind of one of those moments.”
Feldheim, with the Field Museum, specializes in shark genetics. He said while this phenomenon has previously been seen in sharks, it’s rare. It’s even rarer to be seen when males are available to mate with.
“It’s interesting that she, along with our other two females, were all reproducing at the same time,” said Lise Watson, who oversees Shedd’s Wild Reef exhibit. “The other two females sexually reproduced offspring, and she decided to go it alone and have a asexual reproduction, which is really interesting.”
Although Bubbles’ offspring didn’t survive for more than a few months, a virgin birth can teach scientists so much about shark conservation and breeding programs.
“The more that we know about the individuals in the program, the better off we are making informed, scientifically based decisions on where these animals go after they’ve hatched here, grown up, and moved to other aquariums to be able to find other mates,” said Watson.
Zebra sharks are an endangered species. There are currently three females and one male living at the Shedd.
The study has been published in the “Journal of Fish Biology,” and it focuses on the zebra sharks at the Shedd. Feldheim said the virgin birth will help them understand the species and will aid in their conservation efforts.
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