400-year-old Greenland shark became longest-living vertebrate

The marine biologists from the University of Copenhagen published a study in the journal Science, which tells about a curious fact: Greenland sharks are now the longest-living vertebrates known on Earth.

According to the researcher team, lead by Julius Nielsen from the University of Copenhagen, radiocarbon dating has determined the ages of sharks. The marine biologists analyzed 28 of the animals and were really surprised by the age of one female shark. She was about 400 years old.

The team’s point of departure in their studying was a fact that sharks grow at just 1cm a year, the age of sexual maturity comes about the age of 150. The huge female shark, which scientists were lucky to the net, is a phenomenon. The lead author of research Professor Nielsen said:

“We had our expectations that we were dealing with an unusual animal, but I think everyone doing this research was very surprised to learn the sharks were as old as they were.”

Earlier, the marine biology had another recod in the age of vertebrates — the record-holder was a bowhead whale estimated to be 211 years old. The 400-year-old shark won in the longevity competition.