The “sturddlefish”, a hybrid fish between sturgeon and paddlefish, was accidentally born in a Hungarian laboratory as part of a study published in the genetic journal Genes. The aim of the experiment was to strengthen the sturgeon population. They were not planning on any fertilization.
Two species of fish, sturgeon and paddlefish, accidentally gave birth to an unusual hybrid: a “sturddlefish”, a contraction of “sturgeon” and “paddlefish”, the respective English names for sturgeon and paddlefish. This is the result obtained by Hungarian researchers by combining the sperm of a paddlefish with the eggs of a sturgeon. They published the results of the study in the genetics journal Genes.
It should be noted that the offspring shared as much sturgeon DNA as paddlefish and therefore had characteristics of both species, for an atypical result: a fish with a carnivorous mouth and a long filter feeder snout.
According to Attila Mozsár, senior researcher at the Hungarian Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Institute and co-author of the study cited by The New York Times, over the past century, habitat loss, and excessive fishing as well as pollution weighed heavily on the survival of both species. Since sturgeon is an endangered species, Hungarian biologists intended to stimulate female sturgeon eggs by using the sperm of male paddlefish to induce a form of asexual reproduction. The success of fertilization was therefore not anticipated.
“We never wanted to hybridize. The result of our work was absolutely not our intention, ”he told the media.
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