University Of Delaware: Protecting Shark Populations

Press release from the University of Delaware:

Article by Peter Kerwin

June 03, 2021

UD visiting scholar and researcher led major project to artificially inseminate sharks

It’s not easy being a shark. Every summer seems to bring new headlines about beach closings and warnings to swimmers and surfers about the deadly presence of sharks in some shoreline areas. And the “Sharknado” movies haven’t done much for their reputation either.

Scientists collected and evaluated 82 semen samples from 19 sharks, with some samples going to nearby females for insemination and others kept cold and shipped around and across the country. Once the semen reached Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies or Aquarium of the Pacific, where a female was waiting, researchers sedated her and placed the semen in her reproductive tract — the procedure took less than ten minutes. All in all, 20 females were inseminated as part of the study. Neonate sharks hatched from fertilized eggs after four months of incubation. Genetic paternity tests were completed to confirm that the hatchlings were the result of fertilization from sperm used for artificial insemination. One significant and surprising finding was the discovery of three hatchlings from eggs that developed via parthenogenesis within 10 days of eggs that developed from sexual fertilization.

This press release was produced by the University of Delaware. The views expressed here are the author’s own.