My little girl has been busy

[paraletho]

I purchased a Coral Catshark and a Whitespotted Bamboo about 9 months ago both females. so it was much to my surprise when I started finding egg cases or purses about 6 weeks ago. The first three were wind eggs or empty but since then has put down 8 more. I said I'll hang them in veggie clips and see what happens. Well I am preparing the nursery as we speak. So far I have three developing embryos the oldest of which is about 1.5 inches long already. I've talked with Moody Gardens in Galveston about donating as I can't possibly keep a total of 10 sharks. If all the young end up female there is a possibility of this being virgin birth, at which point we would have to do genetic testing to prove that there was no male donation to the genetic makeup. That would be pretty cool huh!
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the oldest of the litter
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An article by a friend of mine that I found while researching parthenogenesis. I may be a little prejudiced but she does do fine job.http://www.oceanconservationscience.org/projects/sharks/genetics_mc2009.07.27.shtmla

 

[Mitch9192]

I am not familiar with shark reproduction, but I highly doubt they reproduce without a male. They might act similar to the molly being that the female can hold the sperm of the male and use it months later to fertilize her eggs.

Congrats, should be a fun road to travel.

Mitch

 

[Lance]

any update on them?

 

[paraletho]

Lance to date we have 4 visible embryos the oldest and largest is about 2.5"-3" long and is well formed. The head geneticist at Perry R. Bass research facility for Texas Parks and Wildlife has expressed interest in performing the genetic tests to prove virgin birth if all offspring are female. He would then write it up as a peer reviewed paper for the Texas Chapter of American Fisheries. We hav e a ways to go as the first egg is probably still 45 - 60 days from hatching. Everything I have read in fishbase and related journals says 116 to 144 days after deposition which was 60 to 70 days ago. I'll post a video in the next couple of days of her and the other little wigglers. I have been real busy getting the 20 long drilled and stand and canopy set up next to the main tank. Training sessions for the science teacher and class on feeding and care of the young sharks and of course a schoolwide naming contest for the newest young mascots.

 

[Lance]

That is awesome and looking forward to finding out more info as you get it.

 

[David Gibson]

Very cool stuff. I appreciate you sharing it with us as things unfold.

 

[paraletho]

Born today by Caesarian section (actually I just ripped the egg case a bit and gave a gentle squeeze) a 4.75 inch 2OZ. wriggling bundle of joy. She is a female Whitespotted Bamboo. 5 more to go.

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Video
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[Eckolancer]

What size of tank did you get them to breed in what were you parameters? Temp water quality ect


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[bimmerzs]

@Burbarry wrote:

May be a good idea to reread his first post for your answer.

Cheers,

 

[Lance]

Congts and looking great.............thanks for the update and that is pretty little shark.

What are your next plans for them?

 

[Bulldog Steve]

[smilie=clapping.gif] [smilie=clapping.gif]
That is so cool.

 

[Eckolancer]

@bimmerzs wrote:

May be a good idea to reread his first post for your answer.

Cheers,"]
i dont see that info in his first post. Or at least not on my iphone. Maybe i will log in on a computer sometimes taptalk leaves things off.


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[paraletho]

@Burbarry wrote:

Part of the answer is in the first post. I have no male sharks so I didn't get them to breed. What I did do was apparently provide her with an environment where she felt good enough to deposit her eggs whether they were prefertilized or clones.The tank is a 360 gallon 96"x32"x30". It is basically a FOWLR with a couple of softies and a few LPS. We maintain a little cooler water for the sharks as they prefer it 76 to 78. We run 33ppt salinity and Calcium 400, Alkalinity 8.5, Magnesium 1350, Ammonia and Nitrite 0, Nitrate usually runs 5- 20 on feeding cycle etc.

@Lance6270 wrote:

We will try and raise the pups and donate some to Moody Gardens, SeaWorld San Antonio, and Texas A&M, I am trying to work a deal with Moody Gardens so the class can have a backstage special tour at no cost. Kids need to see science at work not just facts in a book.

 

[Eckolancer]

Wow 33 ppt on salinity that seems crazy high but it is great you got it to happen. I want to set up a 250+ gallon soon. Always wanted a shark so maybe i will look at the 300 a little more.


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[paraletho]

I was a little worried as what I had gathered from my reading the little shark was a bit undersized from the norm. She didn't eat for 6 days but then took a couple of small pieces of fresh shrimp soaked in garlic. She is spending more time swimming and hunting now.
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[Lance]

Thank you for the update..........I love this and hope everything works out for the best and the idea with Moodys as well as I think that is an awesome idea.

 

[KDC]

I just found this thread and was wondering if there we could get an update on the shark pup. Did any of the other egg sacks hatch?

 

[bj_sweeten]

I was wondering the same thing that is so awesome.

 

[paraletho]

A couple of things have happened since the last report.

We discovered that our ID on the pups was wrong. The Coral Catshark was responsible for the eggs. This answers a lot of the questions such a s the small size of the pups and the size range for sexual maturity for the two adult females. This did create a hitch in the offer to do the genetic testing. The genetic markers are well known for the Whitespotted Bamboo because of all the previous work with them in other self cloning cases. He is currently searching literature.

Unfortunately all the pups died. One made it six weeks. Experts in the zoolgical field have said it was probably nutritional deficiencies or weakened embryonic development because of the age of the eggs if they were stored in utero. We learned a lot of things. The pup tank din't have enough flow and had a constant problem with cyano. Doing something like this at a school with limited time available from the students especially in the spring season is not the best scenario. I am very proud of our students though. We are a 1A scool and a small one at that. State champions 1A UIL Academics.