Date: 1/8/2005
Australian scientists will attempt to breed gray nurse sharks in artificial wombs under a plan to boost the critically endangered speciesâ numbers, reported New South Wales state Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald. Embryos harvested from female sharks in the wild will be reared separately in artificial wombs designed to stop the ravenous fish from devouring each other before birth in what is known as âintrauterine cannibalism.â Scientists believe about 460 gray nurse sharks remain in eastern Australian waters and fear they could vanish from the region altogether within 20 years.