Zebra Shark Amazes Scientists After Laying Eggs Without Male Contact

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"Leonie the Zebra" shark is living separately with a male partner at the Reef HQ Aquarium in Townsville, Australia. However, her keepers came into surprise when she laid eggs bringing three tiny sharks in April 2016.

Leonie had several offsprings before being separated from a former mate in 2012. Now, this surprising creature gave birth through asexual reproduction. According to Live Science, this might be the first shark ever discovered to shift from sexual to asexual procreation.

"We thought she could be storing sperm; but when we tested the pups and the possible parent sharks using DNA fingerprinting, we found they only had cells from Leonie," University of Queensland biologist Christine Dudgeon, said in the journal Scientific Reports Monday, Jan. 16.

Parthenogenesis is the term for asexual reproduction in zebra shark. It takes place when embryos develop and mature with no fertilization from a sperm. The fertilization occurs through an egg ancestor cell, which functions as a foster sperm to fertilize the egg of zebra sharks. Female zebra sharks typically absorbed this egg ancestor cell.

Parthenogenesis is more observed in plants and invertebrate creations. However, scientists are continuously discovering a number of vertebrate species having virgin births even though they are naturally for sexual reproduction.

Examples of species having virgin births are Komodo dragons, wild pit vipers, blacktip sharks, chickens, and turkeys. Most of them came from caged habitats and didn't experience any meeting to male mates throughout their reproductive prime, Dudgeon and her teammates wrote.

Leonie adjusted to her episodes, and scientists assume that this zebra shark shifted since she missed her mate. Parthenogenesis could indicate a generation survival of zebra sharks if proven to be a progressive adjustment due to the absence of appropriate mates. In this perception, genetic diversity among zebra sharks will be mislaid with asexual reproduction, Dudgeon said.