Female sharks make babies alone in Italy

ROME, July 31 (AFP): Italian researchers have noted the first case of "virgin birth", or reproduction without fertilisation, in an endangered shark species, a scientific journal reported this week.

The findings published in Scientific Reports concern the first case of the phenomenon in the common smooth-hound shark, Mustelus mustelus, a species threatened by illegal fishing that inhabits the Mediterranean and other warm waters.

Researchers from the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Piedmont, Liguria and the Aosta Valley found that two female M. mustelus sharks under observation in captivity had exhibited parthenogenesis-in which a female can reproduce asexually without the need of sperm to fertilise the egg-each year since 2020.

The two 18-year-old sharks have been at the Cala Gonone Aquarium in Sardinia since 2010.