FILE - Charlotte, a round stingray, in an undated photo at the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO in Hendersonville, N.C. The aquarium that said it had Charlotte, a pregnant stingray with no male companion, now says that the fish has a rare reproductive disease. The statement from the Aquarium and Shark Lab in Hendersonville on Thursday May 30, 2024, did not say what disease the stingray, Charlotte, has or comment on the status of her pregnancy.
The aquarium in the Blue Ridge Mountains had announced Charlotte's pregnancy in February, stating that she hadn't shared a tank with a male of her species in at least eight years. The aquarium said at the time that she was pregnant with as many as four pups and could give birth within two weeks. The pregnancy was thought to be the result of a type of asexual reproduction called parthenogenesis, in which offspring develop from unfertilized eggs, meaning there is no genetic contribution by a male. The mostly rare phenomenon can occur in some insects, fish, amphibians, birds and reptiles, but not in mammals. Documented examples have included
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