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Science reports about a study of Greenland sharks Somniosus microcephalus using carbon dating of shark lenses where the oldest specimen was 392 plus or minus 120 years old i.e. between 272 and 512 years and older than any other known vertebrate. They are also the slowest to reach reproductive maturity at around 156 years old.
The sharks are usually between 2 and 5 meters long but can reach 6 or maybe 7 meters length and have been known to reach a high age ever since it was discovered they only grow 1 centimeter or less each year.
[Continues...]
takyon writes:
A radiocarbon dating study has determined that Greenland sharks can live for at least 272 years (392 ± 120):
Because Greenland sharks lack bones—they're cartilaginous fish—conventional methods of tracking growth, like carbon dating of bones, won't work. Instead, the team used a modified radiocarbon dating technique that has worked before on other boneless animals: tracking the chronology of the eye lens. The eye lens nucleus is composed of inert proteins. The central portion of the lens is formed during prenatal development, and during growth, the tissue retains the original proteins, which were largely made before birth.
As a result, carbon-dating these proteins can help determine how long ago the shark was born. For this work, researchers performed radiocarbon dating on the eyes of 28 female sharks that were collected in Greenland during scientific surveys that took place between 2010 and 2013. According to the radiocarbon dating, these sharks live at least 272 years.
[...] In addition to determining longevity, the scientists wanted to determine the age at which Greenland sharks begin to reproduce. Through analysis of sharks that did not exhibit the "bomb pulse" radiocarbon indicator, the team determined that the reproductive age of the sharks was at least 156 ± 22 years, based on other results that indicated females only start reproducing once they reach four meters in length.
This investigation reveals that the Greenland shark is among the longest-lived vertebrate species, with a life expectancy exceeded by only one other ocean dweller (a species of whale). Since it takes them more than a century to reach reproductive age, conservation efforts are important to help keep this population from dwindling.
Eye lens radiocarbon reveals centuries of longevity in the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf1703)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 13 2016, @10:02AM
I take it these sharks must have evolved bioluminescent laser beams to match their longevity?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Saturday August 13 2016, @11:04AM
I know shark language.
I have a message from them.
"Dear homo sapiens fellows (somehow the homo word was accented),
Some of us are older than mr. Edison.
We are fucking sick of your laser jokes,
and of the light bulb on the shark jokes before that,
and of the candle screwed on the shark head jokes before that.
Go die in a fire (this seems a very offensive phrase for creatures living underwater)"
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday August 13 2016, @04:00PM
Wait, the parenthesis was also part of the message?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday August 13 2016, @11:19PM
No, it is my note. If you buy the full version of sharktranslator I can prefix the first occurrence with "(translator note:"
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 13 2016, @10:29AM
it should come as no surprise that the females are not ready to reproduce until after they hit their 156th birthday.
156 year old virgins? No problems with randy teenagers there...
That's one way to reduce STDs I guess...
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Saturday August 13 2016, @03:43PM
And their meat is toxic :3
Move over cockroaches we have a new ultimate survivor!
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday August 13 2016, @10:55AM
"Remember", said the shark mum to the eager sharklet, "make him wait at least 70 years before getting your eggs fertilized, you don't want to pass for a slut, do you?"
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday August 13 2016, @11:09AM
One date a week.
Don't put out until after the 3,641st date!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday August 13 2016, @11:22PM
> Don't put out until after the 3,641st date!
HANDS OFF THAT'S MY GF.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday August 13 2016, @03:46PM
I read somewhere in the distant past, that radio carbon dating was next to useless in living things because they can manipulate carbon preferentially by biological processes unknown to the investigation.
Of course I also was told Pluto was a planet and we would all be dead of starvation by now.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday August 13 2016, @05:48PM
radio carbon dating was next to useless in living things because they can manipulate carbon preferentially by biological processes
So, what you are saying is, you did not RTFA? Distant past versus Short Term Memory, and distant past wins? Now we are left to wonder. "On the internet, no one knows you are a Greenland shark. . ."