Hammerhead shark gives "virgin" birth

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A captive shark gave birth to a pup without the benefit of sperm, the first time such a case has been documented in a shark, U.S. and British researchers said on Wednesday.

Scientists had suspected that sharks could reproduce through parthenogenesis, a word meaning "virgin birth," but had never been able to document it

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews...=RSS&rpc=22

Maybe this is a new evolutionary trend among threatened species. If your potential partner is lost somewhere in a soup bowl, go ahead an reproduce anyway! Good news if true

Good news if true

Bad news - single parent means decreased diversity among the species, and a greater susceptibility to diseases or similar.

Female sharks are also known to be able to store sperm reserves in their body and be able to fertilize as and when they feel the need. Just how long they are able to store sperm is anyone's guess. Reading the story though its pretty impressive. We live and learn. The world still finds out amazing things where sharks are concerned but still the slaughter goes on........Still a ways to go in my book.

Cheers,

Mark.

Good points Matt and Mark.

I've always wondered where all the male sharks are, and where sharks go and mate. Maybe the reason the ladies store sperm for such long times is because they only hook up very (and evidently increasingly) rarely.

All the huge schools of hammers off Galapagos etc are all female; all the Tigers we saw in the Bahamas were female - those guy sharks are shy!

Huzzah!!!!!!!!!!

Its the Messiah!!!!

Sharks are for worshiping... not soup...

Good points Matt and Mark.

 

I've always wondered where all the male sharks are, and where sharks go and mate. Maybe the reason the ladies store sperm for such long times is because they only hook up very (and evidently increasingly) rarely.

 

All the huge schools of hammers off Galapagos etc are all female; all the Tigers we saw in the Bahamas were female - those guy sharks are shy!

Maybe the males are all huddled in a dark cave watching blue movies and paying some very wealthy female shark for 'personal dances'...

Either that or they took up underwater photography.... female partners (for us male/straight photograhers) and this hobby do not go hand in hand ("you spent how much?!?!").....

Huzzah!!!!!!!!!!

 

Its the Messiah!!!!

 

Sharks are for worshiping... not soup...

 

i always knew that sharks were godlike this confims it...

Didn't Boris Becker (allegedly)go through this a few years ago..

Maybe the female Hammer stored (as Marky said) some Hammer juice after a 'fling' in a resturant toilet then used it for her own means for family support and a free beachside villa near Coco's...

Or the sharks the new messiah...

Either way..Good job done

Dive safe

DeanB