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Eye lens radiocarbon reveals centuries of longevity in the Greenland shark ( Somniosus microcephalus )

2016; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 353; Issue: 6300 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.aaf1703

1095-9203

Julius Nielsen, Rasmus Hedeholm, Jan Heinemeier, Peter G. Bushnell, Jørgen S. Christiansen, Jesper Olsen, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Richard W. Brill, Malene Simon, K. Steffensen, J. F. Steffensen,

Marine animal studies overview

Deep living for centuries We tend to think of vertebrates as living about as long as we do, give or take 50 to 100 years. Marine species are likely to be very long-lived, but determining their age is particularly difficult. Nielsen et al. used the pulse of carbon-14 produced by nuclear tests in the 1950s—specifically, its incorporation into the eye during development—to determine the age of Greenland sharks. This species is large yet slow-growing. The oldest of the animals that they sampled had lived for nearly 400 years, and they conclude that the species reaches maturity at about 150 years of age. Science , this issue p. 702