Sturddlefish

Yearlings of A. gueldenstaedtii (a) and P. spathula (d), and their hybrids: (b) typical LH (larger genome) hybrid, (c) typical SH (smaller genome) hybrid.[1]

The sturddlefish is a hybrid of the American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) and the Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii), accidentally created by researchers in 2019 and announced in 2020.[2] Obtaining living hybrids through breeding individuals from different families is unusual, especially given that the two species' last common ancestor lived 184 million years ago.[3] The hybrids were created accidentally during attempts to induce gynogenesis, a type of parthenogenic reproduction where a sperm cell must be present to trigger embryogenesis but does not genetically contribute to the offspring. Hundreds of hybrid fish were created, of which about two-thirds survived over one month, and about 100 survived for one year.[3] As of July 2020, all living hybrid fish are living in captivity at the research lab in Hungary.[4] There are no current plans to create new sturddlefish.[3]

  1. ^ Káldy, Jenő; Mozsár, Attila; Fazekas, Gyöngyvér; Farkas, Móni; Fazekas, Dorottya Lilla; Fazekas, Georgina Lea; Goda, Katalin; Gyöngy, Zsuzsanna; Kovács, Balázs; Semmens, Kenneth; Bercsényi, Miklós; Molnár, Mariann; Patakiné Várkonyi, Eszter (6 July 2020). "Hybridization of Russian Sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, Brandt and Ratzeberg, 1833) and American Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula, Walbaum 1792) and Evaluation of Their Progeny". Genes. 11 (7): 753. doi:10.3390/genes11070753. PMC 7397225. PMID 32640744.
  2. ^ Burton, Bonnie (July 20, 2020). "Meet the sturddlefish, a new fish hybrid accidentally created by scientists". CNet.
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference NYTimes0721 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference CNN0721 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).