Oh, I don't know Blast. If I reproduce AT ALL, it will disturb me. If I do so without help, it explains the handbasket.

WARNING: If your kids are watching over your shoulder, you might have to explain this to them. JIM, I think you can handle it.

Personally, I wouldn't want to go poking and prodding a shark's sensitive bits, but true hermaphrodites do occur in mammals so I don't see why other vertebrates wouldn't have it occasionally happen either. And not just the sex change thing that some reptiles and amphibians, but actually functional male and female reproductive structures. Rare as hell, but it has been observed.

If both sets of organs are fully functional, with the way fish reproduce, a shark that is a shim could fertilize itself. I suppose it would be possible for mammals that posses the same mutation to have this happen, but the flexibility required boggles the mind, to put it politely. Odds are this offspring will be loaded with recessive genes. I wouldn't dissect either one, yet, but I would certainly put them in their own tank. Anyone know how to run a CAT or MRI on a shark? I'd love to get a look at their innards without disassembly, just to see if (a) this happens again (which rules out the theories about something fairly normal but still odd happening) or if (b) either shark starts to have health issues.

Now, is this genetic quirk likely to pass on? Doubtful. I wouldn't get your britches in a bunch Picard. I'd just stare in awe at the wonders of the universe and the stuff that makes you "huh" when the sideshow is in town.