Deep in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, there’s a massive, slow-moving shark that holds an incredible secret—this creature can live for as long as 400 years! It’s called the Greenland shark, and scientists believe it might just be one of the longest-living animals on Earth. In fact, some of these sharks could have been swimming through the oceans when Shakespeare was still writing plays.
These sharks don’t even reach sexual maturity until they’re around 150 years old, meaning their population has had a slow recovery since they were heavily over-fished before World War II. But recently, scientists from Europe and the U.S. have come together to map out the Greenland shark’s genome, or complete set of DNA, to understand how these amazing creatures manage to live so long. A report from the New York Times shared these fascinating findings.
What’s truly stunning is that the Greenland shark has about 6.5 billion DNA “base pairs”—that’s double the amount found in humans! This makes their genome one of the largest ever sequenced for a non-tetrapod (animals that don’t have four limbs, like fish). According to Steve Hoffmann, a computational biologist leading the research, “Any research into the mechanisms of how this animal is able to live for such a long time will at some point need the genome sequence.”
But it doesn’t stop there. The scientists also found that the shark’s DNA is made up of many repeated sequences known as “jumping genes.” These genes can move around and insert themselves into different parts of the DNA, behaving like “genomic parasites.” Normally, this kind of activity can cause problems, leading to diseases or developmental issues. However, the Greenland shark may have evolved a way to control these parasites, using them to help repair its DNA instead of letting them cause harm.
This discovery has huge potential for humans. João Pedro de Magalhães, a molecular biogerontologist who wasn’t part of the study, said this research could help scientists develop new treatments for cancer or even prevent it, by learning how the shark controls these “genomic parasites.”
In another mind-blowing discovery from 2016, researchers found that one female Greenland shark might have been alive for 400 years! After studying 28 Greenland sharks, they estimated her age could be anywhere from 272 to 512 years old, with her most likely being around 400 years. That means she could have been born sometime in the 1600s, which makes her the oldest known vertebrate (animals with backbones) ever discovered.
While this Greenland shark holds the record for vertebrates, other animals also have impressive lifespans. For example, there’s a clam named Ming that lived for 507 years and a giant tortoise named Jonathan, who is still alive and over 190 years old!
With each new discovery, the Greenland shark’s incredible longevity is revealing secrets that could one day benefit humans in ways we never imagined. Could this ancient shark hold the key to longer, healthier lives for all of us? Time will tell.
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