A group of scientists in Hungary accidentally created a type of fish not ever recorded or known to humankind- the Sturddlefish.
The Sturddlefish is the offspring of a Russian Sturgeon and the American Paddlefish.
However, the birth of this spiky-finned, long-nosed hybrid is not a result of natural reproduction but of an accidental occurrence from a lab.
Its birth happened at the Research Institute for Fisheries and Aquaculture in Hungary, and there are about 100 of the Sturddlefish hybrids currently in the institution now.
Senior Researcher Attila Mozsar said the team never wanted to play around hybridization, and the creation of the Sturddlefish was “unintentional”.
The Sturddlefish
Sturgeon plus Paddlefish resulted in the Sturddlefish.
Interestingly, the Russian Sturgeon and the American Paddlefish have no means to meet in the waters at all. Without human intervention, these two fishes will never set eyes on each other due to their individual habitat location.
The Russian Sturgeon is found living in the seas, lakes, and rivers of Europe, the Middle East, and Serbia. It eats molluscs, small fishes, and crustaceans.
Meanwhile, American Paddlefish are found only in the US. This species is mostly seen in the Mississippi River. It has a long paddle-shaped snout that it uses to dig for food. It eats zooplanktons.
Both are endangered species.
It is a fact that it is rare for two different species of fish to mate and produces offspring.
Given this assumption, the scientists in Hungary placed a sperm from the American Paddlefish near the eggs of a Russian sturgeon.
The scientists tried to “coax” the eggs from the sturgeon into reproducing asexually through a process gynogenesis. The process requires the presence of sperm without putting an actual DNA.
In gynogenesis, the sperm triggers an egg’s development but fails to fuse to the egg’s nucleus. The sperms DNA should not be a part of the resulting offspring, which is supposed to develop solely from the maternal DNA.
Meet the #Sturddlefish – A NEW fish hybrid accidentally created by scientists! This weird-looking fish is a hybrid offspring of the American paddlefish & Russian sturgeon, both critically endangered.
Read more in my @CNET article here: https://t.co/qcM8feYmD9 pic.twitter.com/O0OKjaK6kt— Bonnie Burton✍️📚🎲 (@bonniegrrl) July 20, 2020
Despite the process, the American Paddlefish’s DNA was transferred to the hybrid; thus, it became a new species with the characteristics of both the parent fishes.
The researchers described the appearance of the new hybrid as “odd”. Some of the hybrids resemble the sturgeon and half-resemble the Paddlefish. All have the classic sturgeon fins, and all have the paddlefish snouts.
The researchers said the Sturddlefish is a carnivore like a sturgeon.
Although the eggs hatched in hundreds, only 100 have survived, and the researchers said they do not have any plans of creating more.
In the history of hybridization, the offsprings produced cannot provide an offspring of their own. This might also be the case with the Sturddlefish.
An example of hybrids produced in the past is the limer, which came from a lion and a tiger and the mule, which is a mix of a horse and a donkey. Both the limer and the mule can’t have offspring of their own.
Mozsár said they plan to care for the fish, but they won’t create more because the hybrids could outcompete the original native sturgeon in the wild. Since the Russian sturgeon is already an endangered species, the introduction of the hybrid might threaten its survival.
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