The saying goes “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch,” as one of the biggest aquarium-related media sensations this year has come to a sad end. Charlotte, the pregnant female California Round Stingray was confirmed dead by its carers at the Aquarium & Shark Lab in North Carolina on Monday July 1st after a rollercoaster ride of press attention and mass speculation as to who the father was.
The reason? Charlotte became pregnant in the public aquarium without a male being present or her interacting with any males of her species in the recent past. Her tank mates? Some small shark and bony fish species, and the media frenzy began as the mainly non-fishkeeping public and press ran with the possibility of one of the shark species being the possible father, with frankenfish shark/ray hybrids expected for the future.
Ultrasounds followed and confirmed the ray had pups inside, along with the characteristic external bumps known to keepers of stingrays when females are pregnant. Those in the know suspected parthenogenesis and virgin births have happened in captive shark species like Zebra and Epaulette sharks before. This made it much less newsworthy amongst the public aquarium community, apart from observing an exercise in how to get media attention. But even long after Charlotte’s due date, nothing came.
The months came and went, and the public got restless with some calling it a publicity stunt, but all was not well behind the scenes with Charlotte. On May 30th Team ECCO released the following statement:
“We regret the delay of updates regarding Charlotte. This time was necessary to gather data and analyze lab and testing results. These reports were shared with our care team. The reports show that Charlotte has developed a rare reproductive disease that has negatively impacted her reproductive system. The findings are truly a sad and unexpected medical development.”
“Our priority is to focus on Charlotte’s health and wellbeing. We will work with, and be guided by, veterinarians and specialists to better understand this disease and the treatment options for Charlotte. While the research of this disease is limited, we hope that Charlotte’s case and medical treatment will positively contribute to science and be of benefit to other rays in the future.”
Charlotte died one month later, and this week Team ECCO released the following update:
“We are sad to announce, after continuing treatment with her medical care team and specialist, our ray Charlotte passed away today. We are continuing to work with her medical care team and research specialist. The team ECCO family appreciates your continued support while we navigate this great loss. The aquarium will remain temporarily closed during which time our staff will continue to care daily for our other fish and animals.”
What we think
Public Aquaria release news all the time, from shark and seahorse births to Octopus that can predict the football scores, and it all helps bring in much-needed paying visitors while raising greater awareness about the oceans at the same time. But there’s no worse PR for zoos and aquariums than animal deaths, and Charlotte tragically died under the full glare (and scrutiny,) of the world’s media.
We don’t doubt that the right people were brought in or that all was done to save the world’s most famous stingray, but sadly, and as every fishkeeper knows, death is inevitable. We just wonder if Team ECCO now wishes this particular public aquarium fish’s plight wasn’t quite so public.
About the California Round Stingray, Urobatis halleri
The California Round Stingray, or Haller’s Round Ray, belongs to the Family Urotrygonidae and is a common species in the shallow, subtropical coastal waters around California. Females can grow up to 24″/60cm in length and are capable of producing two litters of up to six pups per year. Fertilization is internal via one of the male’s claspers, and the species is live-bearing.
Image credit
Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO https://www.facebook.com/teamecco
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