A Greenland shark, estimatd to be nearly 400 years old — born around the 1600s — has gone viral for being the longest-living vertebrate known.
Scientific American’s Carin Leong tells the story of the Greenland shark in a YouTube video, entitled “These super old sharks have a newly-discovered superpower.”
According to Leong, the sharks not only live for centuries, their eye sight remains intact and that’s how scientiists are able to determine their age, by looking at their eyes. The shark’s lens is basically a biolgical time capsule, so by measuring carbon-14 levels, scientists can roughly estimate when a shark was born, in which Leon discusses in the video.
“There are sharks alive today that were born in the 1600s,” Leong said.
“Greenland sharks are the oldest vertebrates that we know of on Earth, and the oldest one we’ve dated comes in about 400 years old,” she added.
“How do we know this, you might ask? By carbon dating the shark’s eye lenses,” she said.
A 2016 study using radiocarbon dating on eye lens proteins revealed these Arctic creatures grow just 1 cm/year, living for centuries in deep, cold waters.
Research published in Science estimated one female to be roughly 392 years old (plus or minus 120 years), with a birth year likely in the early 1600s.
Greenland sharks live for 250 to 500 years due to an exceptionally slow metabolism, cold Arctic habitat, and unqiue genetic adaptations.
Their slow, 0.5–1 cm annual growth and low-energy lifestyle in deep, freezing water reduce cellular wear and tear. Their longevity is supported by enhanced DNA repair genes and specialized “jumping genes” that prevent age-related damage.