by Greenland Sharks May Live for More Than 500 Years
You are watching the “𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟” who has lived for more than half a millennium, the longest life on Earth currently. Read carefully, it’s millennium – 1000 years, which means this creature has lived for more than 500 years. And that’s the Greenland shark. Reality has proven that if species are allᴏwed to self-𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡, there are many wild creatures whose lifespans exceed that of humans. In humans, 80 years old is considered a very long life. But sea turtles, they can cross the 100-year threshold. Whale? 150 years! But have you ever thought that there are creatures that live for more than 500 years? That is more than half a millennium? But really, it’s the sharks in Greenland.
The Greenland shark is the longest living 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 in the world and is also a rather 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 creature on this planet. These strange sharks live in the cold, deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean and can live for more than 500 years. Although they have been on this planet for so long, the Greenland shark has always been a 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 and elusive animal.
The Greenland shark is a member of the “sleeping shark” family, which is the most 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 in the Arctic thanks to its huge body equal to the great white shark. They feed on bᴏᴛᴛᴏm fish and can even handle seals with ease. But the biggest 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦 of Greenland sharks is their 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 longevity. Like the fish in the picture above, it was discovered in 2017 with a confirmed life expectancy of… 512 years. In other words, it is the 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 with the longest life span on Earth today. The Greenland shark found primarily in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic, these slow-swimming sharks can be as big as the largest great whites, reaching up to 21 feet in length. They’re among the largest of ᴄᴀʀɴɪᴠᴏʀᴏᴜs fish, and yet grow perhaps only a centimeter or so a year. Such slow growth yet big size is usually an indicator of a long-lived animal. But researchers weren’t expecting what they discovered when they ʀᴀᴅɪᴏᴄᴀʀʙᴏɴ dated lenses from the eyes of 28 Greenland sharks. Their longevity comes from the fact that they are the slowest-grᴏᴡɪɴɢ species on the planet. The maturation process of the Greenland shark is up to… 150 years. You are not 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛, and this means that an old shark is actually still very young in this fish population. Given the sharks’ incredibly long lifespans, scientists are diving into the sea creature’s ɢᴇɴᴏᴍᴇ, looking for clues. That symposium also highlighted the work being done to isolate the shark’s longevity gene, with complete DNA information gathered from almost 100 sharks, including some born in the 1750s. Finding such a gene could go a long way in explaining why some vertebrates, like humans, have such limited lifespans.
The results show that this newly discovered shark is definitely one of the oldest living creatures in the world. At the present time, the record lifespan of the Greenland shark is still of great interest to the scientific community. Experts are hoping to analyze the ɢᴇɴᴏᴍᴇ of this animal to answer the question: how to make humans live forever.
