A stingray named Charlotte has become a global sensation after news of her pregnancy sent the internet into a frenzy. The reason for everyone’s confusion: Charlotte is pregnant, despite being in an enclosure with no male to inseminate her. That’s right, it’s a stingray virgin birth people, meaning Stingray Jesus will be upon us any day now.
Currently residing in a storefront aquarium in North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains, Charlotte the stingray’s pregnancy was announced by her aquarium in a Facebook post on February 7.
“Our stingray, Charlotte, is expecting! We have held this close to our hearts for over three months,” read the post.
“The really amazing thing is we have no male ray!”
The miraculous pregnancy has left both punters and experts astounded as to how this could have happened, however there’s a theory that aims to explain the situation — and others that don’t explain it but are fun to believe anyway.
@lindsieeudey #stingraynews #stingraycharollete #charolettethestingray #halfstingray ♬ suono originale – 😐
How is Charlotte the stingray pregnant?
Parthenogenesis
This theory is the most likely of the lot, with experts suspecting that Charlotte’s pregnancy is a case of the highly unlikely but not impossible occurrence of stingray parthenogenesis.
Parthenogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction where a female’s egg develops into an embryo despite not being fertilised by any sperm. It has been known to occur in fish, as well as amphibians, birds, and reptiles. It does not happen for mammals (sorry humans).
Considering that Charlotte’s keepers have stated she hasn’t even seen a male for eight years — lucky girl — then it seems like parthenogenesis may be the only scientific explanation.
Though it is a statistical rarity, it’s not impossible for it to happen. Admittedly, no stingray experts have heard of it occurring in the species of round stingray that Charlotte is, but that hardly rules the theory out.
Researcher at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta Kady Lyons shared she’s hardly shocked at the pregnancy “because nature finds a way of having this happen”.
“We don’t know why it happens,” said Lyons, who has seen this occur with other species of shark and ray in human care before.
“Just that it’s kind of this really neat phenomenon that they seem to be able to do.”
So that’s the most likely scenario. But in this incident of such unbelievable odds, why not look at two more less likely — but more fun — possibilities.
The dad’s a shark
There was a theory floating about online that due to the fact that Charlotte was in an enclosure that housed five small sharks, she could have theoretically been impregnated by one of the SHARKS here, with potential that it creates some type of shark-ray hyrbid.
This theory caught the attention of the internet particularly due to how bizarre it was, and how it enabled everyone to use the phrase “Shark Daddy” relatively shamelessly.
@candace.mukhtar Invested in this stingray. #stingray #pregnant #shark #fyp ♬ What You Won’t Do for Love – Bobby Caldwell
However the fans of erotic Charlotte and Mr Shark fanfiction were unfortunately shut down by those nerds who call themselves “scientists”.
Jaelen Myers from James Cook University shared with news.com.au that this theory has no legs to stand on.
“A stingray is not about to give birth to some kind of shark-ray hybrid,” Myers told the publication.
“Even if a shark did try to mate with a stingray, it would not produce offspring. That’s for certain.”
So yeah, this one isn’t looking too likely. Sorry for you Shark X Stingray stans out there.
But what do you do when science lets you down? You turn to the Lord.
Jesus Stingray Christ
ALRIGHT OKAY HEAR ME OUT. Who is the most famous case of virgin birth?
Jesus Christ.
And what did Christ promise to do at the end of the Biblical canon?
Return again, when we would least expect.
But what if he not only decided to return at a time we least expect, but in a WAY we least expect as well?
And now suddenly, it all makes sense.
@itszazal How long this is going to take !!!!! #Meme #MemeCut #stingray #babystingrays ♬ original sound – Zazal
The only issue with this theory — yes, only — is that it would seem somewhat counterintuitive to some of the metaphors used by Christ in his original human form.
In the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mathew, Christ makes two new disciples by telling them that if they follow Him, He will make them “fishers of man”.
Whilst in the form of a human this makes sense, the same messaging from the mouth of a literal fish may seem a little on the nose for some theologians.
On top of all of this, Christ being a stingray would also make the whole “walking on water” story less impressive.
However the best thing about this theory is that it is unfalsifiable, and therefore there’s no logical reason not to believe it.
All hail Stingray Jesus.
Forgive me for any blasphemy I have committed against thou name, Hail the Virgin Mother Charlotte. Amen/Afish.
