400-year-old Greenland shark is the oldest living vertebrate – Virtual Poland

• The magazine “Science” has just published a groundbreaking study on the age of the animals

 • biologists succeeded in developing a method for determining the age

 • The oldest living vertebrate to Greenland shark, whose age is estimated at 400 years

The oldest living vertebrate Greenland shark is having 392 years. The age range of these fish stretches from 272 to up to 512 years. The shark was a female, who was born about 1624 years. In Poland, then ruled by the Vasa dynasty.

This record is not comparable to the previous record in this field. For example, the oldest elephant living in captivity died at the age of 86, and the oldest man lived to the age of 122 years.
 “ This record beats the longest-living vertebrates so far ” – said Julius Nielsen, head of research at the University of Copenhagen. He added that the age of the oldest living whale is estimated to be “only” 211 years.

The Greenland shark is one of the largest vertebrates. It reaches a length of about five meters. Interestingly, grow only one centimeter per year, and their sexual maturity reaches the age of 150 years.

 “ The biologists attempted to determine the age and life expectancy Greenland shark for years, but to no avail ” – says Steven Campana, an expert from the University of Iceland. “It is almost incredible that so far we did not know whether sharks live 20 to 1,000 years.”