Shark species lives 272+ years

[Teemu]

http://www.nature.com/news/near-blind-shark-is-world-s-longest-lived-vertebrate-1.20406

The team decided to measure levels of radioactive carbon-14 in fibres in the centre of the shark’s eye lens. Such measurements reflect levels of radiocarbon in the ocean when the lens was first formed. Measurements of 28 female Greenland sharks, made during surveys in 2010–13, suggested that the largest of them (at 5.02 metres long) must have been between 272 and 512 years old at the time.

Surpasses the bowhead whale, which had been the longest-living vertebrate (211 years)

Click to read more...

 

[Led Zappa]

Swimming around doing nothing but killing, eating and procreating for over 272 years. Sounds like a punishment

 

[LT]

That's a pretty big gap. Would be interesting if they were 400-500 years old, actually.

I wonder what allows them to survive for so long.

 

[LadyStanley]

I wonder what allows them to survive for so long.

Apex predator

 

[FLYLine27*]

Wow, that's absolutely nuts that they could possible live to 500 years old. With a lifespan that long, i'm shocked there isn't more of them.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Cold marine environment means VERY low metabolism, which combined with nutrient-rich food like whale and seal blubber means it expends very little energy while taking in a lot.

Here's the most crazy part:

The study also shows that Greenland shark females don’t reach sexual maturity until around 150 years old — suggesting that a century of heavy fishing could wipe out the entire species, says Bushnell.

 

[LT]

Apex predator

Obviously, but that's still unique to this species.

Cold marine environment means VERY low metabolism, which combined with nutrient-rich food like whale and seal blubber means it expends very little energy while taking in a lot.

Here's the most crazy part:

This is more what I was looking for. How they avoid aging and physically degrading over time.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Google Ludwig von Bertalanffy, he's an Austrian biologist who made a lot of important discoveries in the field in the early 20th century and really laid the foundation for modern theories on organismal growth and development. In fact the Greelnad Shark article posted in the OP cites von Bertalanffy's work from over 70 years ago

Quantitative Laws in Metabolism and Growth
The Theory of Open Systems in Physics and Biology

There's a lot of really cool stuff out there about metabolism, growth, and resource allocation in vertebrates. If you like physiology and zoology there's a lot of fascinating info explaining how creatures make metabolic trade-offs.

Life history implications of allocation to growth versus reproduction in dynamic energy budgets
Can Optimal Resource Allocation Models Explain Why Ectotherms Grow Larger in Cold?
Growth patterns of fossil vertebrates as deduced from bone microstructure: case studies from India

Most of them you can only read the abstract, you'd have to register an account to read the full article.

In my undergrad I had to write a paper about indeterminate growth and how they inform life history decisions in different organisms. During my research I discovered this stuff and it's the kind of applied macro-biology that I want to study.

 

[GarbageGoal]

The study also shows that Greenland shark females don’t reach sexual maturity until around 150 years old — suggesting that a century of heavy fishing could wipe out the entire species, says Bushnell.

The good news is the Greenland shark has little value as a commercial fish. It's flesh is toxic and can only be eaten after a long process of boiling, drying and fermenting. By all accounts the jerky like meat produced is downright awful and a truly acquired taste.