Charlotte , thecelebrity stingraythat was polemically adjudge to be fraught despite only share her tank with sharks rather than males of her species , has died .
The Aquarium and Shark Lab in Hendersonville , North Carolina , announce the sad word on their societal media late Sunday Nox while give thanks fans for their “ love and reinforcement . ”
“ We are sad to annunciate , after persist in handling with her medical care squad and specializer , our beam Charlotte passed away today , ” the aquarium posted onFacebook .
“ We are remain to make for with her aesculapian care squad and research specialist , " they add up .
The aquarium did n’t explicitly give a cause of death , but a old postal service did state she was stand from arare procreative disease .
Back in February , the aquarium announced that the distaff stingray was pregnant despite not having shared a tank with a manly stingray in at least eight years .
" Our stingray , Charlotte , is expecting ! We have agree this cheeseparing to our hearts for over 3 months , " Team ECCO , which runs the aquarium , denote onFacebookin February , alongside echography scans .
" The really amazing affair is we have no male ray ! "
The news was wide covered by the media – admit IFLScience , apparently – and social media was buzzing with speculation . Some suggestedCharlotte may have been prang up by another species in the tankful , such as a shark , in a rare example of hybridization . However , marine biologists stressed the human beings ’s first " shingray " was improbable , give the two species are fairly distantly colligate , plus there are no documented typesetter’s case of shark breeding with stingray .
Experts at the fish tank eventually go under onparthenogenesis , a terminal figure that stem from the Greek for “ virgin birth , ” in which an conceptus can develop without impregnation , as the most likely scenario . It ’s a pretty rare phenomenon , but it has been document in sealed mintage of dirt ball , amphibious vehicle , birds , reptiles , and – most importantly – fish .
A major twist in the story occurred in May when the fish tank revealed Charlotte had " develop a rarefied reproductive disease that has negatively impacted her reproductive scheme . " They continued to advise the stingray had antecedently been pregnant , but the embryo had been end due to the illness .
Some , however , doubt whether she was ever pregnant in the first place . Smelling something suspicious about the story , marine expert criticize the aquarium , claimingthey had spread misinformation and were possibly putting the stingray ’s life at peril . The marine museum traverse this .
" I can only tell apart you what we know for sure . I ’ve never been a prevaricator . This was not a scam . This was not anything made up , but hoi polloi do that . People have their own thinking , " Brenda Ramer , the owner of the aquarium , told local television set stationWLOS .
Surrounded by doubtfulness , it appears the stingray ’s life was ultimately edit unforesightful due to her reproductive disease . It ’s a lamentable end to the saga , but few rays can say they were sport onSaturday Night Live .
