Scientists discovered the first vertebrate in the animal kingdom on record to reproduce offspring without any sort of sexual intercourse.
According to Live Science, authors of a study published in the journal Current Biology detailed the virgin birthing process of Florida's smalltooth sawfish. Also known as asexual reproduction, virgin birthing is common among invertebrates, or animals without a spine.
"We were conducting routine DNA fingerprinting of the sawfish found in this area in order to see if relatives were often reproducing with relatives due to their small population size," study lead author Andrew Fields, a PhD candidate at the Stony Brook University's (SBU) School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, said in a press release. "What the DNA fingerprints told us was altogether more surprising: female sawfish are sometimes reproducing without even mating."
The sawfish is a relative of sharks, but is critically endangered. The smalltooth is one of five sawfish species that typically dwell in the waters around southwest Florida.
"Vertebrate animals that we always thought were restricted to reproducing via sex in the wild actually have another option that does not involve sex," study co-author Demian Chapman, a marine biologist at SBU, told Live Science. "Rare species, like those that are endangered or colonizing a new habitat, may be the ones that are doing it most often. Life finds a way."
The sawfish gets its name for having a row of teeth lining its snout in the shape of a saw. With cartilage skeletons like their shark relatives, the sawfish can grow up to 25 feet in length.
"Occasional parthenogenesis may be much more routine in wild animal populations than we ever thought," study co-author Kevin Feldheim of the Pritzker Laboratory at the Field Museum of Chicago, said in the release. "This should serve as a wake-up call that we need serious global efforts to save these animals."
