Photo: Instagram/juniel85
Scientists collecting specimens during a research expedition in the North Atlantic Ocean caught what is estimated to be a 500-year-old Greenland shark, believed to be the oldest living vertebrate ever discovered.
Based on its overall length of 18 feet, experts used its annual rate of growth of 1 cm per year along with radiocarbon dating to determine its age as between 272 and 512, making this particular fish older than St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Greenland sharks are believed to be the longest living animal on the planet and can reach lengths of 24 feet and weigh more than 3,000 pounds. They can be found in cold water in depths of up to 7,000 feet in both the northernmost Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.
Last year a study published in the August issue of Science found that Greenland sharks lived longer than original thought thanks to a dating method that examined the the shark’s eye lens. Their research found that the species’ lifespan commonly spans multiple centuries.
Radiocarbon dating of eye lens nuclei from 28 female Greenland sharks (81 to 502 cm in total length) revealed a life span of at least 272 years. Only the smallest sharks (220 cm or less) showed signs of the radiocarbon bomb pulse, a time marker of the early 1960s. The age ranges of prebomb sharks (reported as midpoint and extent of the 95.4% probability range) revealed the age at sexual maturity to be at least 156 ± 22 years, and the largest animal (502 cm) to be 392 ± 120 years old.
The Greenland shark is a thickset species with a short, rounded snout, small eyes, and very small dorsal and pectoral fins. They have a pale creamy-gray to blackish-brown color, though whitish spots or faint dark streaks are occasionally seen along their backs.
