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TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA – Cleo is no ordinary leopard shark, in fact she’s a shark that defies what most people know about the laws of nature.

She was born at Reef HQ Great Barrier Reef Aquarium in Townsville, home to the world’s largest living coral reef aquarium and the national education centre for the Great Barrier Reef. Cleo’s Mum is a leopard shark called Leonie, and here’s the surprise of biblical proportions; Cleo doesn’t have a father.

“Here at Reef HQ we’re so excited about it. It raises a lot of questions. Does this happen in the wild? Does it happen more often than we realize?” asks Hamish Tristram, Senior Aquarist, Reef HQ.

Laura Coulton, Reef HQ Aquarist, who’s known as the mother of sharks says “It is a very unique occurrence and it’s particularly interesting with the case we have here, because we’ve got a female which we know has been able to reproduce using normal sexual reproduction and now something’s changed and she’s been able to switch to this completely different method.”

Cleo was born from a process called facultative parthenogenesis, otherwise known as a virgin birth.

Far from being able to walk on water, Cleo will only ever swim in it, and while her amazing arrival can be explained by science, the fatherless shark pup and her siblings are causing a stir in the marine research world.

“The interesting bit of research that we want to find out in the future is whether the offspring are reproductively viable as well. So we’re certainly going to be keeping the first of our pups, Cleo, here at Reef HQ just to see and explore a little further her ability to produce viable offspring,” says Fred Nucifora, Director, Reef HQ.

As if this story wasn’t incredible enough, it seems leopard shark Mum Leonie may soon become a grandmother, without having a son in law. Her eight-year-old daughter Lolly, who does have a Dad, has also started producing eggs on her own, leading scientists to question genetics.

“Within the last year (Lolly) has been laying eggs and there’s signs of little embryos developing. Now she’s never been housed with a male so there’s every chance she’s decided to follow in Mum’s footsteps – or Mum’s tail swish – and has decided to produce offspring through parthenogenesis as well,” says Laura.

Leopard sharks are prized for their distinctive colouring, so breeding programs like the one at Reef HQ are vital to prevent them being caught in the wild.

In 2013 the experts at Reef HQ decided to separate the male and female leopard sharks to ensure there was no more hanky panky in the fish tank!

After a year of childfree bliss, Leonie however had other ideas and much to the surprise of everyone at Reef HQ produced Cleo who is only four months old and 50cm. But Leonie wasn’t finished, Cleo was followed by Gemini and CC, a cute 28cm at birth. Her carers believe there may just be another baby on the way.

Like all children, Cleo and CC have very different personalities according to Aquarist Laura, “Cleo is….the more laidback of the two, (while) CC is definitely the greedy guts. We’ve noticed this pattern before with clutches of leopard shark eggs; the first one tends to be a bit more relaxed, enjoys their food just as much as anyone…whereas the second one seems to think if they don’t eat all the food in the world they will never see it again.”

Leopard sharks are typically ocean floor dwellers; they’re slow swimmers and generally pose little risk to humans. Their diet is mostly made up of invertebrates like crabs, octopus and prawns. The somewhat shy sharks are found in tropical waters around the world including Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef.

While there may be 70 vertebrate species such as lizards and snakes that can have virgin births, to have a mother and daughter duo doing so in the same aquarium at the same time is astounding.

Shows: Townsville, North Queensland, Australia (June 20, 2016) (Tourism & Events Queensland – Access All)

0:00 Visitors at Reef HQ walking through aquarium.

0:11 Close up vision of fish inside aquarium shot through glass.

0:27 Shot of ‘Leonie’ the leopard shark swimming through aquarium, shot through glass.

1:24 Turtle swimming in aquarium, shot through glass.

1:31 Shark laying at bottom of aquarium, shot through glass.

1:39 Underwater vision of shark swimming at the bottom of the aquarium.

2:27 Shot of ‘Lolly’ laying at the bottom of aquarium, shot through glass.

2:57 Vision of ‘Cleo’ and ‘CC’ (CC on the bottom).

3:24 CC, then alternates between Cleo and CC thereafter.

3:40 Vision of shark (small) being fed in aquarium, shot through glass.

4:05 Vision of shark (small) swimming and being fed in aquarium, shot through glass.

4:41 Vision of staff feeding shark in aquarium.

5:09 Underwater vision of ‘CC’ and ‘Gemini’ swimming and being fed in aquarium.

5:34 Underwater vision of one of this years pups from Leonie prior to hatching in aquarium.

5:49 Underwater vision of one of this years pups from Leonie prior to hatching in aquarium, shining torch to show shark pup.

6:01 Underwater vision of one of this years pups from Leonie prior to hatching in aquarium, showing shark pup head.

Interview with Laura Coulton, Reef HQ Aquarist

6:27 It is biblical proportions – it’s what we call parthenogenesis which literally means virgin birth. So it’s producing an offspring without an egg actually being fertilized.

6:39 We’ve been working really closely with a researcher at the University of Queensland who came up and did a genetic sample of Cleo as well just to confirm our suspicions. And when the results came back from that – that it is definitely an example of parthenogenesis – that was incredible.

6:58 Cleo is – I think – the more laidback of the two, so she’s very cruisey, very laid back. She just came into the world expecting things to be nice and easy. CC is definitely the greedy guts out of the two, we’ve noticed this pattern before with clutches of leopard shark eggs. The first one tends to be a bit more relaxed, enjoys their food just as much as anyone but calmly so. Whereas the second one seems to think if they don’t eat all the food in the world, they will never see it again.

7:27 So the food they’re getting at the moment are things like squid strips, they’re getting little bits of fish so they’re moving on to those tougher items. So when they’re first born they’re getting prawns but with all the shell removed so its nice and small little pieces. So they’re working their way back to get up to the prawns. But with the shell, just gives them more enrichment in terms of the food but obviously introduces more of the nutritional requirements for. And they can get the things like calcium from those skeletons when they can get onto the larger items as well.

7:58 It is a very very unique occurrence and its particularly interesting with the case we have here because we’ve got a female which we know has been able to reproduce using normal sexual reproduction. And now something’s changed and she’s been able to switch to this completely different method as well and the other very exciting thing here is her younger daughter who is on display with her, who is eight years old this year, she actually started reproducing eggs for the first time just when she was alone in the tank with Mum. She’s never been kept with a male before and we’re seeing signs that she might actually be reproducing using parthenogenesis as well. So we have two potentially unique stories. We have one who has reproduced sexually and has swapped and one that has never produced sexually-produced offspring but has chosen right out of the gate to produce offspring on her own.

8:48 Obviously we’ve got Leonie who’s successfully gone through and reproduced these offspring all by herself. But now one of her daughters who is now eight years old this year who has only just started laying eggs within the last year has been showing these similar signs. She has been laying eggs and there’s signs of little embryos developing. Now she’s never been housed with a male, so there’s every chance she’s decided to follow in Mum’s footsteps – or Mum’s tail swish – and has decided to produce offspring through parthenogenesis as well.

Interview with Hamish Tristram, Senior Aquarist, Reef HQ Townsville

9:20 Here at Reef HQ we’re so excited about it. And in fact we’re going to become a huge story and a lot of scientific interest in what’s going on. And it raises a lot of questions – does this happen in the wild? Does it happen more often than we realize?

Interview with Fred Nucifora, Director, Reef HQ

9:32 The interesting bit of research that we want to find out in the future, is whether the offspring are reproductively viable as well. So we’re certainly going to be keeping the first of our pups Cleo here at Reef HQ just to see and explore a little further her ability to produce viable offspring.

09:54 ENDS