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Dec 11, 2018 · The claim that researchers discovered a 512-year-old Greenland Shark is based on a real study from August 2016, but that figure was a highest-possible estimate and not the actual determined...
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Headlines circulating on the internet today (Dec. 14) breathlessly described the discovery of a 512-year-old shark but they're a little off the mark.
Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) are native to the Arctic and North Atlantic, and can grow to be up to 24 feet (7 meters) long and weigh up to 2,645 pounds (1,200 kilograms), according to the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG). They are slow-moving fish, cruising at about 1 foot per second (0.3 meters/se...
For some shark species, scientists use bony structures such as calcified vertebrae to track their age, reading rings that form in the hardened tissue as the shark ages. But Greenland sharks are \"soft sharks\" whose vertebrae don't harden enough to form telltale age markers, so scientists needed a new method to determine how old the sharks were, Ju...
The scientists used radiocarbon dating to measure carbon isotopes absorbed by Greenland sharks' eye tissue, working with sharks that were captured as bycatch, the study authors reported.
\"It's important to keep in mind there's some uncertainty with this estimate,\" Nielsen said. \"But even the lowest part of the age range at least 272 years still makes Greenland sharks the longest-living vertebrate known to science.\"
As long-lived as they may be, Greenland sharks don't even come close to the longevity of hydra freshwater polyps. These unassuming-looking invertebrates continuously regenerate their own cells, and are thought to be able to live forever under the right conditions.
Creatures that swim the ocean depths are notoriously difficult to observe in their natural habitat, and there is still much to be learned about many species that have been known to science for decades and Greenland sharks are no exception, Nielsen told Live Science in 2016.
The largest shark they found, a 5-meter female, was between 272 and 512 years old according to their estimates. Carbon dating can only provide estimates, not a definitive age. Scientists continue to refine this method and may provide more accurate measurements in the future.
Sep 12, 2016 · A Greenland Shark has broken all records for the world’s oldest living vertebrate. The shark is between 272 and 512 years-old, which means it was born sometime between the French Revolution in 1789 CE and potentially as far back as 1482 CE, when Columbus landed in America.
Greenland sharks have the longest lifespan of any known vertebrate, estimated to be between 250 and 500 years. [4] They are among the largest extant species of shark, reaching a maximum confirmed length of 6.4 m (21 ft) long and weighing over 1,000 kg (2,200 lb).
Aug 27, 2021 · The results were astounding, indicating that Greenland sharks could live anywhere between 272 and 512 years.
Aug 11, 2016 · Radiocarbon dating of the 28 Greenland sharks' lens nuclei revealed a maximum life span of at least 272 years, according to the study, published August 11 in the journal Science.
