Virgin Shark Gives Birth Without Mating!!!

A virgin female zebra shark named Bubbles has hatched some pups without undergoing any sexual relation with any male shark at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium. This is the second documented case of a virgin birth in sharks. This ‘virgin birth’ of zebra shark siblings took place in November 2022. Its detail report is published in the Journal of Fish Biology.

As reported in ABC Chicago, the Shedd Aquarium has a massive space where a variety of sharks roam around. But the zebra shark Bubbles did not prefer to mate with any of the male sharks surrounding her. Yet she conceived and gave birth to offspring.

DNA analysis of shark pups of Bubbles’ shark proved that they were ‘virgin births’ as their DNA did not match with that of any male sharks in the enclosure.

According to the authorities of the Chicago aquarium, asexual reproduction is a rarity among vertebrates like sharks. This asexual reproduction process is called parthenogenesis. Through this process, female animals fertilize eggs with their own genetic material, which has happened in the case of this zebra shark.