Stingray that sparked curiosity over mysterious pregnancy has died (2024)

Charlotte the stingray, who garnered attention earlier this year for her unaccountable pregnancy, has died, a North Carolina aquarium shared.

Aquarium & Shark Lab by Team ECCO posted on Facebook June 30 that the stingray died earlier in the day “after continuing treatment with her medical care team and specialist.”

“We are continuing to work with her medical care team and research specialist. The Team ECCO family appreciates your continued love and support while we navigate this great loss,” the post continued.

The Hendersonville, North Carolina, aquarium noted that it will remain temporarily closed following the stingray's death.

In February, the sea life center gained attention and skepticism when it announced that the female stingray became pregnant despite the absence of a male mate.

In April, the aquarium’s executive director, Brenda Ramer, told TODAY.com that she believed Charlotte became pregnant through parthenogenesis.

For months, the updates surrounding Charlotte’s pregnancy sparked uncertainty regarding the initial announcement.

The aquarium then announced in June that Charlotte was no longer pregnant, following news that she had a reproductive disease, per a statement to TODAY.com. News of Charlotte's death comes less than a month later.

What happened with Charlotte's pregnancy?

In the June announcement, the Aquarium & Shark Lab by Team ECCO shared that Charlotte was no longer pregnant and had a reproductive disease that medical experts would review.

“Charlotte is stable and continues to show no decrease in appetite or activity,” the statement read.

“The Medical Experts are reviewing additional ultrasounds and testing that have been collected and sent out for recommendations for treatment options, and we will collaborate on a medical care plan for Charlotte based on the entire medical file and options available to her. Additionally, after consulting with the Medical team, the most cautious course of action is to temporarily remain closed to ensure the safety and medical care of Charlotte and all our animals at Team ECCO Aquarium. We will provide updates as we have them and appreciate your support and understanding."

Concerns regarding Charlotte's pregnancy were again raised after the aquarium revealed that she “developed a rare reproductive disease that has negatively impacted her reproductive system” in a statement posted to Facebook on May 30.

“We regret the delay of updates regarding Charlotte. This time was necessary to gather data and analyze lab and testing results,” the Aquarium & Shark Lab by Team ECCO’s May statement began.

“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.”

The statement ended with a thank you to the public for its ongoing support and asked for respect for the stingray and her care team as it continues to “navigate this unexpected news and work to determine the best path forward.”

Representatives for the aquarium did not respond to TODAY.com's request for comment at the time.

Who is Charlotte the stingray?

Charlotte the stingray lived at Aquarium & Shark Lab by Team ECCO for eight years. In February, the aquarium revealed its round stingray was pregnant — despite never interacting with a male stingray. The announcement left followers baffled as to how this could have happened and when these miraculous babies were going to appear. In April, Ramer told TODAY.comthat even her understanding of the pregnancy had narrowed since she first announced the news.

According to Ramer, the fish was adopted from a private home outside the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, and was estimated to be between 12 and 16 years old.

Despite Charlotte never encountering a male round stingray after arriving at the aquarium, a February livestream of an ultrasound at the aquarium showed that Charlotte was pregnant.

“We found out that Charlotte is expecting, and it’s a really strange and unique phenomenon,” Ramer explained during the livestream ultrasound. “She’s carrying somewhere between three and four pups.”

Users were quick to express their fascination about how exactly the stingray became pregnant. One theory Ramer presented early on is that she was impregnated by sharks who shared her tank at one point.

“I’m sorry, she may have mated with a shark?” one viewer commented on the livestream.

“I had no idea it was possible for a shark to impregnate a stingray,” another wrote.

Months after the pregnancy announcement, some users began to grow wary of the likelihood of her pregnancy.

How exactly did Charlotte the stingray get pregnant?

In the aquarium's February announcement of Charlotte's pregnancy, Ramer offered two possibilities for her status — the first one being the shark theory.

Benjamin M. Perlman, who has a doctorate in biology and is a lecturer at CaliforniaStateUniversity — Long Beach’s Department of Biological Sciences, researches and studies stingrays. Speaking to TODAY.com in April, he said that cross-species mating and reproduction aren't possible in this case.

He explained that “the morphology of the male shark won’t necessarily fit with the morphology of the female round stingray.”

Ramer told TODAY.com in April that she had come to believe Charlotte became pregnant through parthenogenesis.

Britannica defines parthenogenesis as a “reproductivestrategy” in which a female can develop and produce offspring without fertilization.

In a typical pregnancy, a female's eggs are fertilized by a male's sperm. According to Perlman, in parthenogenesis, instead of male sperm, another cell from the female combines with the egg. This cell carries the additional DNA needed, and it's from the female herself.

“So you have a complete set of DNA, but not from the female and the male. It’s from the female and that same female,” he explained, adding that the result is an offspring that essentially becomes a mild clone version of its parent.

Perlman said that in order to know for sure if Charlotte's pregnancy was a case of parthenogenesis, we would have had to wait for her to give birth in order for DNA samples to confirm anything.

“You’ll be able to see if there was any presence of sperm, you know, from some male counterpart or if it was just from the female,” he explained.

When did Charlotte the stingray get pregnant?

Kinsley Boyette, an assistant director of the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO, told TODAY.com in April that staff learned Charlotte developed eggs in December after they began to notice changes in her body and behavior.

“She definitely got much rounder,” Boyette explained, adding that while humans carry their progeny in their stomachs, stingrays carry theirs in their backs. “We noticed that she couldn’t completely bury herself underneath the sand, and that is what moved us to perform the ultrasound.”

Boyette said that it was during the ultrasound they discovered she was pregnant.

“We sent the data to our colleagues, and they are the ones that helped us confirm her (pregnancy results),” she explained.

Ramer noted that because she and her staff were unaware of how long Charlotte’s eggs had been inside of her prior to the ultrasound, they weren't sure when the suspected parthenogenetic process could have started.

What did the aquarium have to say about the skepticism around Charlotte's pregnancy?

“We look at it as a once-in-a-lifetime gift,” Ramer said in an April interview. “And I think that’s how people should look at it. It’s a gift and we’re trying to share the experience in the wonder of the oceanic world.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com