Did a stingray get pregnant without a mate? The answer may surprise you - explainer

The Internet was rocked by a revelation of almost biblical proportions earlier in February when the North Carolina-based Aquarium & Shark Lab announced that one of its round stingrays, Charlotte, was pregnant, despite not having been near a male stingray for eight years.

Naturally, this right away got the world buzzing, with many on social media comparing Charlotte's pregnancy with that of the Virgin Mary, and her unborn child (or in Charlotte's case, four children) to the Christian messiah himself, Jesus Christ.

So what's happening here? With Charlotte due to give birth soon, people are demanding answers. 

Here is what you need to know about Charlotte the Stingray, and spoiler alert: The possibility of a stingray Virgin Mary is far more likely than you'd think.

How did Charlotte get pregnant? 

Charlotte the Stingray was confirmed to indeed be pregnant after an ultrasound was done on some growths discovered in her body, the Smithsonian Magazine reported.

The question is how. Was immaculate conception, something right out of religious belief, possible in a stingray? That seemed a bit farfetched, especially since such a thing has never been documented occurring in a round stingray before.

Others looked for more logical answers. And that answer led to sharks.

Did sharks impregnate a stingray?

Sure, Charlotte hadn't been with any male stingrays in her tank for eight years, but she was with several male sharks. Not only that, but she was covered in bite marks indicative of shark mating, as explained by the aquarium's executive director Brenda Ramer to a local ABC affiliate. 

Rays and sharks are closely related, so maybe the shark got Charlotte pregnant? 

An interesting idea, and one that would lead to the birth of ray-shark hybrids. Perhaps stingsharks, or shark rays? 

Unfortunately, even if Charlotte had mated with the sharks, a resulting pregnancy is still impossible.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Georgia Aquarium researcher Kady Lyons says that their DNA and anatomies are wholly incompatible. 

"We should set the record straight that there aren't some shark-ray shenanigans happening here," Lyons told the AP. 

Other experts have backed her up, too.

"I give a shark the same odds of being the father that I would give Elvis or Bigfoot of being the father—zero," shark research expert Demian Chapman told Forbes.

So clearly, sharks aren't the answer. But that leads to just one possibility left. But in what may be surprising to many, this is far more realistic than it would seem.

Parthenogenesis: Is immaculate conception possible?

Long story short: Yes. It is entirely possible to get pregnant without any sort of sexual intercourse. 

Sure, this hasn't happened with every species, and it isn't known to have occurred in humans ever - as far as scientists are concerned, at least. But other species? Absolutely. 

In fact, parthenogenesis is known to have occurred in sharks and rays before, too. 

However, they have never before been documented in a round stingray. This would be the very first time this species has ever been known to experience this phenomenon. 

So will we see the birth of stingray Jesus?

Probably not, but there are many on social media who disagree. 

Several people on TikTok have taken to calling this hypothetical divine offspring "Steesus" short for Stingray Jesus, and no doubt several people await this second coming of the Christian messiah, even if it is far more aquatic than most expected.

But in a surprising twist, this isn't the first time Jesus has been linked to rays.

Back in 2012, a woman in South Carolina took a picture of a dead cownose ray that washed up on the beach, and many on social media claimed it bore the image of Jesus Christ on its back, the HuffPost reported at the time.

But that could just be due to pareidolia, the human tendency to find faces where they don't exist, rather than any genuine divine stigmata. 

Regardless, any potential divine revelation is pending on Charlotte giving birth to her pups any day now.