Longest sperm storage by a female shark
Who
Brownbanded bamboo shark
What
45 month(s)
Where
United States ()
When

Female sharks are known to be able to store sperm, leading to several egg being laid by a brownbanded bamboo shark in Steinhart Aquarium after the females housed there had been completely isolated from males for 45 months. After incubation, two of the egg cases started to show embryonic development, one of which developed into a healthy pup.

DNA testing, comparing it with that of the three potential mothers, showed that the baby shark showed too much genetic variation to have been the result of parthenogenesis. Furthermore, the shark had 32 alleles, or versions of a particular gene, that were not found in any of the adult females.