Still waiting: When will Charlotte the stingray give birth? Too unique to predict.
HENDERSONVILLE - People around the world are still on Charlotte watch, waiting to see when the round stingray will give birth asexually at the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO in downtown Hendersonville off of Main Street.
The aquarium continues to see a steady stream of people wanting to catch a glimpse of Charlotte, and that was the case again on March 13, as the line stretched out of the door by 2 p.m., an hour after the doors had opened.
Charlotte's pregnancy is through a process called parthenogenesis, a type of asexual reproduction in which offspring develop from unfertilized eggs. Team ECCO announced March 11 on its social media pages that it would now be giving Charlotte updates on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The latest update given March 13 had no birth news, but it did show Charlotte enjoying her feeding time with the aquarium's assistant director, Kinsley Boyette, who has been giving insights in the social media posts. On March 9, Boyette explained more about parthenogenesis and also what would happen when Charlotte's babies are born.
She also addressed the question everyone asks, "When will Charlotte give birth?"
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"Charlotte's pregnancy is a unique situation. There is no set precedent on how long a parthenogenetic pregnancy is in this species," Boyette said. "Charlotte is the first known documented California round stingray to do parthenogenesis in captivity."
Boyette said the data the aquarium staff is collecting will be shared with interested scientists and aquariums all around the world.
"All of the DNA testing (of the pups) will be completed by the Field Museum in Chicago," she said.
After the pups are born, they will be transferred to a separate nursery tank, Boyette said.
"This tank is set to the same environmental parameters as Charlotte's current home. The offspring will be separated to allow for careful observation by aquarium staff," she said.
Dean Hensley is the news editor for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him with tips, questions and comments at DHensley@gannett.com. Please help support this kind of local journalism with a subscription to the Hendersonville Times-News.
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Stingray Charlotte hasn't given birth yet; updates coming twice a week
