The oldest living vertebrate on Earth is not a Galapagos tortoise but a shark, specifically a Greenland shark ( Somniosus microcephalus ) that is about 400 years old.
This boreal shark with a half-life of about 272 years, also called a sleeping shark due to its slow speed when moving, has been awarded the title of “longest living vertebrate ” after a team of researchers from University of Copenhagen (Denmark) led by Julius Nielsen, discovered a 392-year-old Greenland shark.
To calculate the age of this shark can grow to 4 or 5 meters in length, the researchers used a new dating technique isotopes (with the disadvantage that sharks have cartilage and not bone) thanks to which have analyzed the lenses of shark eyes , which are made up of really stable and resistant proteins that remain unchanged throughout their lifespan.
These proteins that are formed during embryonic development, accumulate footprints (isotopes) from the environment and from their own diet, which helps to estimate the age of the animal.
Among those historical traces, researchers have discovered traces of atomic tests from the 1950s or the beginning of the use of fossil fuels by humanity.
The finding has been published in the journal Science.
