Scientists have confirmed the second-ever case of virgin shark birth indicating that female sharks can reproduce without mating with a male shark. The possibility exists that many female sharks have this incredible capacity.

Through DNA testing, a team of scientists has proven that the offspring of a female blacktip shark, named Tidbit, had no genetic material from a father. Tidbit has lived for eight years at the Virginia Aquarium in the Norfolk Canyon Aquarium since shortly after her birth in the wild, according to a statement from Stony Brook University.

The same team discovered the first-ever confirmed virgin birth of a shark in 2007. That shark was a hammerhead living in an Omaha, Neb. zoo and had no contact with a male shark for at least three years. Scientifically known as parthenogenesis, the virgin births have been confirmed using DNA-fingerprinting techniques identical to those used in human paternity testing.

"It is now clear that parthenogenesis occurs in sharks other than just hammerheads," lead author Dr. Demian Chapman said in the statement. "The first case was no fluke. It is quite possible that this is something female sharks of many species can do on occasion."

The study will be published in the latest issue of the Journal of Fish Biology.