The Invisible Shark and the Virgin Mary

One of the most unique sharks in the world is also one of the most elusive. For many years, the Cookie Cutter Shark was thought to be only a myth. Ships would return back to port with curious bite marks that were almost perfectly circular in their hull. For a while, the possibility that it was an animal seemed impossible; the holes in the hulls were too perfect.



The cookie cutter shark has a circular set of teeth that allows it to take chunks out of its prey.
Instead of having a set of teeth that bite down on its prey, the cookie cutter runs into another fish and take a "plug" of meat out of it. Another interesting thing the cookie cutter does is glow in the dark- a rare trait called bioluminesence. But because of the minimal cookie cutter/human contact, there hasn't been much information about this strange fish.





Meanwhile, the Virginia Aquarium scratches their heads at another shark mystery. Tidbit, a blacktip reef shark, had been put under sedative and gotten her yearly checkup. However, the sedatives were not agreeing with Tidbit's body. Later, she died quite suddenly, leaving the aquarium employees to wonder why she had reacted so badly to the sedative.

Later, when Tidbit was receiving an autopsy, vet Bob George noticed a small, unborn baby. It was almost fully functional, with only a short amount of time left before the birth. The only problem:


There was absolutely no way Tidbit could have had a baby.


Blacktip sharks only mate with other blacktip sharks, and Tidbit was the only Blacktip in her tank- and had been for about 10 years. A fatherless birth- it seemed impossible. What's more, Tidbit showed no evidence of being pregnant; so if the baby had been born, the aquarium staff probably wouldn't have noticed.

This virgin birth has really only been seen a couple times before in animals (and also in the Bible), and scientists still arent quite clear on how some sharks can have fatherless babies.
Asexual reproduction is somewhat of a miracle- it's a neat trick. It involves the process of parthogenesis, and it usually happens in insects.

Tidbit's case could hold some very interesting information. If a shark can complete the process of parthogenesis, then what other animals can? Moreover, could humans gain from this research?