SYDNEY, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- For the first time in Australian marine research, an aquatic park has performed an artificial insemination (AI) experiment on a Leopard Shark in hopes of saving another shark species from going extinct.
The experiment which was conducted by Sea Life Mooloolaba in Queensland involved taking sperms from a male Leopard Shark at an aquarium in Melbourne before artificially inseminated onto a female Leopard Shark in the Sunshine Coast Queensland.
AI is a deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's uterus or cervix for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse.
This experiment is done in hopes of saving the extremely critically endangered Grey Nurse Shark.
"While the AI of Leopard Sharks is not currently essential for their survival, it is hoped the insemination attempt will enable researchers to learn about the reproductive behaviours of Australian shark species, while using the technology to save wild populations of the Grey Nurse Shark," Sea Life Mooloolaba said in a statement on Friday.
Sea Life Mooloolaba's displays curator Aaron Sprowl said the population of wild Grey Nurse Sharks is listed as critically endangered with an estimated 1500 left.
"Grey Nurse Sharks are not prolific breeders, in that they only birth two pups every two to three years in the wild," Sprowl said.
"They're bred very poorly in an aquarium, so we hope this research project with the Leopard Shark will help us to eventually breed Grey Nurse Sharks at Sea Life Mooloolaba, with the goal of releasing them into the wild to boost their dwindling numbers," he said.
The AI process is safe and gentle, and involved bringing the female Leopard Shark to the water's surface and gently turning her over, which has a relaxing effect on the animal, followed by injecting the sperm and rolling her back over.
Researchers will know if the experiment has been successful, if any eggs laid by the shark in the next few months grow, and then hatch 60 days later, he said.
The pup or pups will then be genetically tested to ensure that they are a result of the AI, rather than self-fertilization that Leopard Sharks are sometimes capable of.
In the past Sea Life Mooloolaba has collaborated with its branch in Melbourne on a similar milestone AI project which resulted in the birth of a Brown Banded Bamboo shark in 2014 which was the first ever shark to be born via artificial insemination in Australia.
Sprowl said knowledge and experience gained from the collection and transport of sperm, and AI of female Leopard Sharks, will help advance the technology required to help other shark species such as the Grey Nurse Shark.
