She has been the only member of her
species at the centre and has had no contact with male sharks
Wednesday 10 February 2016
A female shark could be set to give birth
to two babies despite not having had contact with males for more than two
years.
Experts at the Great Yarmouth Sea Life
Centre have said that the white spotted bamboo shark has produced two fertile
eggs which could hatch at any time after 15 weeks.
The so-called virgin birth is known as
parthenogenesis - a process which does not involve input from a male. It
was recorded for the first time in sharks in 2001, and has since been seen in
the bamboo, bonnethead, blacktip and zebra species.
Darren Gook, a marine biologist and shark
expert, said: “Females somehow manage to add an extra set of chromosomes to
their eggs to produce off-spring which are either clones or half-clones of
themselves."
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