Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
Virgin Birth in a Hammerhead Shark
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-22-2007
Publication Title
Biology Letters
Keywords
Asexual reproduction, Automictic parthenogenesis, Chrondrichthyes, Sphyrnidae, Microsatellite DNA profiling, Genomic imprinting
ISSN
1744-9561
Volume
3
Issue/No.
4
First Page
425
Last Page
427
Abstract
Parthenogenesis has been documented in all major jawed vertebrate lineages except mammals and cartilaginous fishes (class Chondrichthyes: sharks, batoids and chimeras). Reports of captive female sharks giving birth despite being held in the extended absence of males have generally been ascribed to prior matings coupled with long-term sperm storage by the females. Here, we provide the first genetic evidence for chondrichthyan parthenogenesis, involving a hammerhead shark (Sphyrna tiburo). This finding also broadens the known occurrence of a specific type of asexual development (automictic parthenogenesis) among vertebrates, extending recently raised concerns about the potential negative effect of this type of facultative parthenogenesis on the genetic diversity of threatened vertebrate species.
Additional Comments
©2007 The Royal Society
NSUWorks Citation
Demian D. Chapman, Mahmood S. Shivji, Ed Louis, Julie Sommer, Hugh Fletcher, and Paulo A. Prodohl. 2007. Virgin Birth in a Hammerhead Shark .Biology Letters , (4) : 425 -427. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/369.
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ResearcherID
G-4080-2013
DOI
10.1098/rsbl.2007.0189
Comments
Issue cover article.