Rare Sturgeon Spawn Discovered

  • Todd_NE
    Posts: 701
    #1308865

    Rare sturgeon spawn discovered

    Published Thursday, June 28, 2007 at 05:00 AMSIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) _ Scientists have documented natural spawning in the Missouri River by the endangered pallid sturgeon.

    Officials had earlier believed that the rare fish quit spawning after several dams that were built on the river changed habitat for the homely, mud-loving fish.

    Now they say that electronic tracking this spring discovered evidence that at least two pallid sturgeon dropped their eggs in an attempt to spawn between Vermillion and Blair, Nebraska.

    The research is part of an ongoing effort to save the fish from extinction

    wade_kuehl
    Northwest Iowa
    Posts: 6167
    #585129

    That’s cool. Nature has a way. There’s not much cooler than having living dinosaurs in the river.

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    #585133

    Todd, I hope the two towns mentioned aren’t too close together. I would hate to see someone tracking them down for personal gain. Too valuable a resource!

    On another note…from some movie….”Life will find a way”.

    Ben Garver
    Hickman, Nebraska
    Posts: 3149
    #585140

    That’s great news.

    Todd_NE
    Posts: 701
    #585175

    Brian, I’m not sure anyone is trying to catch them though I could be wrong. I’ve accidentally caught my share of the little suckers walleye and sauger fishing. We have a hatchery at Yankton actually.

    We have special reproductive abilities in Nebraska. Our sharks mate without partners also

    Shark’s ‘Virgin Birth’ In Omaha Surprises Experts

    Shomari Stone
    Reporting

    (CBS4) DANIA BEACH Just when scientists think they’ve got Mother Nature all figured out, she throws them a curveball just to show who’s in charge.

    Case in point; a female shark on display at a zoo in Omaha, Nebraska gave birth to a pup without the benefit of sperm from a male shark.

    A new joint U.S.-Northern Ireland study on the shark’s “virgin birth” was published in Wednesday in the Royal Society’s Biology Letter journal.

    The U.S. research team, led by two scientists from Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center, used DNA from the female sharks and the dead pup to test the unusual phenomenon.

    Shark experts say this was the first confirmed case of a sperm-free pregnancy, called parthenogenesis, in sharks.

    Mahmood Shivji of the Guy Harvey Research Institute in Dania Beach co-authored the study. He told CBS4s Shomari Stone about the findings.

    Shivji said the research “may have solved a general mystery about shark reproduction,” because it suggests that sharks can “switch from a sexual to a non-sexual mode of reproduction.”

    The three female sharks, which were captured in Florida Bay in 1988, were immature pups themselves when they were delivered to the zoo and placed in a tank that had no male members of the species. In 2001, zoo workers discovered one of the females had given birth, despite the absence of a male. The “virgin birth” pup died within hours, after it was bitten by a stingray in the tank. In examining the pup’s DNA, researchers said they found no chromosomal contribution from a male partner.

    Asexual reproduction is common in some insect species, and has been known to occur in some reptiles and fish but until now, sharks were not considered a likely candidate.

    “The findings were really surprising because as far as anyone knew, all sharks reproduced only sexually by a male and female mating, requiring the embryo to get DNA from both parents for full development, just like in mammals,” said marine biologist Paulo Prodohl of Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, who wrote the report along with Shivji.

    Prodohl said if self-impregnation was occurring in the wild because female sharks cannot find male partners amid rapidly declining shark populations, it would represent “an evolutionary dead end” that would ultimately compromise the survival of the species.

    jd318
    NE Nebraska
    Posts: 757
    #585177

    Brian,

    No, those 2 towns are not very close. Probably about 150-175 miles apart.

    On a somewhat related topic, I saw in the paper today that the Bald Eagle is to come off of the Endangered Species list. It’s good to see these programs actually work.
    JD

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    #585202

    Thanks…there are people that will kill sturgeon just for the roe…and leave the fish to rot.

    As far as the sharks go…I can see the the end of the world as we know it!

    layne-monroe
    Lincoln, Ne
    Posts: 164
    #587217

    Great to hear thanks for the post!

    Layne Monroe

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