The American paddle fish and the Russian sturgeon never had the fate of mating. But when scientists accidentally bred a new hybrid from both, the Sturddlefish was born.
Most people know the Russian sturgeon for its eggs, which are sold as High-end caviar. The American paddle fish has a long snout and only occurs in half of the USA. Both species are referred to as "fossil fish" due to their ancient lineage and slow development.
Unfortunately, according to the International Union for Nature Conservation, both sturgeon and paddle fish are in danger of extinction. Since both fish species are threatened with extinction, scientists are understandably curious whether sturgeon and paddle fish can be bred in captivity.
Using gynogenesis (a method of asexual reproduction that requires sperm to exist without their DNA contributing to completion), the researchers accidentally used paddle fish sperm to fertilize the sturgeon eggs. Remarkably, the hybridization worked.
Hybridized fish hatched from the eggs and were divided into two groups by the researchers. Some of the sturgeon fish, which had twice as much maternal DNA, looked more like sturgeon than paddlefish. The second group, which had the same amount of maternal and paternal DNA, looked like an equal mixture of the two types.
Scientist Attila Mozsár from the Research Institute for Fisheries and Aquaculture in Hungary and her other scientists responsible for the new fish hybrid published their results in a study published this month in the journal Genes.
The study was the first successful hybridization between these two species - the Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) and the American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) - and between members of the Acipenseridae and Polyodontidae families.
"We never wanted to mess around with hybridization," Mozsár told The New York Times. "It was absolutely unintentional."
While the Sturddlefish offer a fascinating glimpse into the hybridization of two species that should not necessarily mate, you should not expect an influx of Sturddlefish to enter water soon.
Most man-made hybrids like this Sturddlefish are sterile and cannot reproduce in the wild. At the moment, these Sturddlefish are just a scientific curiosity.
