Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #480

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Scientists Claim ‘Ancient’ Shark Is World’s Oldest Living Vertebrate
By Neal Baker
Scientists believe they may have discovered the world’s oldest liv- ing vertebrate.
A shark believed to be the oldest living vertebrate has been discov- ered — and it could be older than Shakespeare.
The massive Greenland shark was found in the North Atlantic Ocean by scien- tists who estimat- ed it is up to 512 years old.
Greenland sharks, which only grow 1cm a year, have been known to live for hundreds of years.
The scientists used the shark’s size to suggest its year of birth as early as 1505.
This was the year the future British King Henry VIII ended his engagement to Catherine of
Aragon.
Experts used the length — a stag- gering 5.5 metres — and radiocar- bon dating to determine its age as somewhere between 272 and 512 years old, according to a study in
journal Science.
It was the oldest ofagroupof28 Greenland sharks analysed for the study.
The shark would have been alive during major world events like the founding of the United States, the Napoleonic
Wars and the sinking of the Titanic.
Greenland sharks mostly eat fish but they have never been observed hunting. Surprisingly, they have been found to have remains of reindeer and even horses in their stomachs.
Their flesh is con- sidered a delicacy in Iceland, but the meat is toxic if not correctly treated.
A separate study of the ancient shark’s bones and tissues by the Arctic
University of Norway may also provide clues about the effects of climate change and pollution over a long time span.
Already the researchers have mapped out all the shark’s mito- chondrial DNA — genetic material held in tiny bat- tery-like bodies in cells that supply energy.
Now they are working on DNA from the cell nucleus, which contains the bulk of the animal’s genes.
The “long life” genes could shed
light on why most vertebrates have such a limited life span and what determines life expectancy in dif- ferent species, including humans.
Professor Kim Praebel, who is leading the research, said the sharks were “liv- ing time cap- sules” that could help shed light on human impact on the oceans.
Many were so old they predated the industrial revolu- tion and the intro- duction of large- scale commercial fishing.
“The longest liv- ing vertebrate species on the planet has formed several popula- tions in the Atlantic Ocean,” said Prof Praebel, who was speak- ing at the University of Exeter at a sym- posium organised by the Fisheries Society of the British Isles.
“This is important to know, so we can develop appropriate con- servation actions for this important species.”
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine