Published today
, Christine Dudgeon’s new paper shows that a female Stegastoma fasciatum (leopard, zebra shark) alternated between sexual and asexual reproduction in the Townsville aquarium. In the absence of her mate, genotyping confirmed a batch of pups were not the result of sperm storage and sexual reproduction as expected. Three juvenile sharks were homozygous for maternal alleles found only in the shark mother confirming asexual reproduction. The results coincide with release of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species which identifies the S. fasciatum as endangered.
