An international team of scientists led by the University of Copenhagen and including the University of Oxford has found that the Greenland shark has a life expectancy of at least 272 years. This discovery shows it is the longest living vertebrate known to science, exceeding even bowhead whales, turtles and tortoises. The findings are published in latest issue of the journal, Science.
While the Greenland shark is among the world’s largest carnivore sharks, with adults reaching more than five metres in length, the animal’s general biology is described in the paper as being ‘poorly understood’ by scientists. The longevity of the Greenland shark has been a particular mystery for marine biologists for decades. Traditionally, the age of sharks and rays is determined by counting the seasonally deposited growth layers in hard calcified structures such as fin spines. However, such techniques cannot be applied to the Greenland shark because it lacks such ‘hard’ structures.
Read More: University of Oxford
Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, 2013 Northeast U.S. Canyons Expedition.
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