Baby Sharks Born Via "C-section"

[trillium13 84]

Shark Bite C-Section: Pups Spill Out Of Wound

2:45pm UK, Thursday November 12, 2009

Huw Borland, Sky News Online

A pregnant shark has suffered an impromptu caesarean section at an aquarium after a fellow predator bit into its belly.

The mother-to-be was attacked by another shark at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in Auckland, New Zealand.

Already stunned visitors then saw four pups wriggling out of the savaged female's wound, according to the New Zealand Herald.

"It (the bite) was on the side and very deep. It was like an impromptu C-section and the sharks actually got born out of the side," one witness said.

When a vet stitched up the mother's gaping wound, another four sharks were found.

Kelly Tarlton's aquarist Fiona Davies told the Herald it was common for sharks to bite each other, but it was the first time she had come across resulting births.

"It had to bite a certain part to let them out and do it without killing them or her," she told the paper.

The eight pups were quickly fished out of the aquarium and placed in a "nursery" tank. They will later be released into the wild.

Ms Davies said the unexpected birth may have saved the babies' lives.

Staff did not know the mother was pregnant and, had she given birth at night as sharks do normally, the pups would have been devoured by adult sharks and stingrays before they could be rescued.

One aquarium worker said: "Once they are born, they are on their own ... the mother does not hang around at all and they are on their own to look after and fend for themselves."

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-New...5452174_Shark_B

Edited November 18, 2009 by trillium13

[caybee 21]

That's pretty amazing.

[Staashi 371]

Very cool - hope she has an easy c-section recovery.