Still pregnant: Charlotte the stingray has not had 'miracle' birth as fans grow impatient

Iris Seaton, Asheville Citizen Times

Fans of Charlotte the pregnant stingray are still waiting for what some are calling a "miracle" birth.

A May 8 post by Team ECCO gave an update on the status of Charlotte, which is living at a Hendersonville aquarium.

Aquarium & Shark Lab by Team ECCO posted on Facebook May 8 that Charlotte has shown "very little change" in the past week. Perhaps more interestingly, the team said it is now utilizing "expanded support and medical teams of qualified veterinarians" in order to perform additional testing on Charlotte.

The post mentioned the unfamiliar nature of Charlotte's pregnancy. The stingray became pregnant through parthenogenesis, essentially meaning that the cells in her eggs developed without fertilization from another animal. Charlotte's pregnancy is uncharted territory not just for ECCO, but for the scientific community as a whole.

"Charlotte's pregnancy is a unique situation," a Team ECCO employee explained in a recent post. "There is no set precedent on how long a parthenogenetic pregnancy is in this species. Charlotte is the first known documented California round stingray to do parthenogenesis in captivity."

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Did Charlotte the stingray ever give birth?

Staff at the Aquarium & Shark Lab first noticed signs of pregnancy in September 2023. Still, Charlotte has not yet given birth to her pups, which has sparked a lot of conversation among fans. Many comments on ECCO's Facebook page feature questions about Charlotte's pregnancy and general well-being, and some commenters are expressing impatience. On its most recent post, ECCO disabled comments.

Charlotte, a stingray at Hendersonville's Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO, is pregnant through a process called parthenogenesis. She's expecting to give birth to one to four pups, according to aquarium staff members.
Charlotte, a stingray at Hendersonville's Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO, is pregnant through a process called parthenogenesis. She's expecting to give birth to one to four pups, according to aquarium staff members.

How long is a stingray pregnant?

Previous reporting from Blueridgenow said that the average gestation period for stingrays is three to four months. This means that Charlotte is well past due for what many may have expected. Again, however, Team ECCO members have reminded the public that there is no known data for parthenogenetic pregnancies.

"We are surveilling them all throughout the night and all throughout the day if we are not here. We are on pup watch," Kinsley Boyette, assistant director of the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO, said in a previous interview with Blueridgenow. "That's also to keep the pups safe. It would be amazing if we capture the birth on video. If she hides behind rocks, we're going to try to get the best clip of it that we can. She will do whatever she wants to do."

The May 8 post is the first time the Team ECCO Facebook has made mention of working directly with qualified veterinarians to handle Charlotte's care.

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What kind of stingray is Charlotte the stingray?

Charlotte is a round stingray, found in the wild in the Eastern Pacific, from Humboldt Bay in northern California south to the Gulf of California and Panama City, Panama, according to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California.

Iris Seaton is the trending news reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at iseaton@citizentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Did Charlotte the stingray ever give 'miracle' birth? May 8 update

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