The birth of a new member of the family called nature is always welcomed, but if you are curious you may have wondered how different species are born. Not all of them do it in a similar way to how humans do it, there are certainly intriguing reproduction stories, such as that of the , or that of the California horn sharks that lay eggs similar to a complex glass sculpture.
Sharks are undoubtedly amazing and strangely not all shark species are born equal. Some do it like a conventional mammal would, but 40% of species are oviparous, meaning they lay eggs. The case of the California horned dream is special, because in addition to being part of that 40%, it turns out that its eggs are really impressive, they look like crystal structures forged by a craftsman.
What are shark eggs like?
A video recently uploaded to TikTok went viral for showing a woman who was walking through California when she suddenly found a shark egg. User California.Shelling is surprised to find the dark amber structure while showing it on camera.
She explains that many people have asked her if greathorn shark eggs are hard to the touch, since they appear to be made of glass. She responds: “They look like glass, I know, but no, they are actually very soft and the case itself is quite soft.”
Then look for the best position against the light to show that it is indeed a shark egg. Finally he gets a surprising shot where he shows the inside of the sac that is completely filled with liquid and you can see how the small embryo swims inside it.
“Okay, so I can actually get some sunlight, and you can see the little embryo there,” the TikToker exclaimed excitedly. Surprisingly if you watch the video closely, you can definitely see the embryo swimming around the corkscrew-shaped shell of the egg, and it is quite fascinating.
“Usually what the mother will try to do is wedge it into some rocks, so hopefully it will stay in place,” the woman explains. But she should be hatched further away, where she has a better chance of surviving.
She finally says that the little shark would have a better chance of surviving if she left it on the rocks further into the sea, but she can’t get close there because it’s dangerous. So she looks for the best spot on the rocks within reach and returns the egg to the rocks, where it has a better chance of hatching.
Do sharks lay eggs?
Nature is so diverse that the beginning of life is different for species. Sharks are not mammals, but belong to the class known as Chondrichthyansthe scientific word for what we commonly know as fish and in that sense, they have really peculiar ways of reproduction.
There are viviparous ones, meaning that the fetus grows and develops in a specialized structure within the mother, until they are ready and are born alive. The great white shark, the hammerhead shark and the famous tiger shark fall into this category.
But not all sharks are born in the same way, 40% of the known species are rather oviparous, yes, like birds. This means that females, instead of housing their young inside them, lay fertilized eggs that then develop outside their bodies but in a structure that contains everything necessary to feed the fetus, a structure we know as an egg. Later when the little baby is fully formed, she breaks the shell and comes to life.
These two ways are not the only ones in which sharks reproduce, there are also ovoviviparous ones, which is more or less a combination of the previous two. These sharks develop and hatch eggs inside the mother’s body, and although the babies are born already well formed, they receive their nutrition from a yolk sac rather than directly from the mother. The gray reef shark is a good example in this case.
Some sharks give birth to live young, and others are oviparous, meaning they lay eggs. California horn sharks mothers lay these corkscrew egg cases. When it comes out, it is very pliable, but hardens over time. Hope this lil guy makes it! 🦈