500-Year-Old Shark? Could Be ...

This 18ft. Greenland shark is perhaps 512 years old.

That's one old fish!

Imagine going ice fishing and hauling that tail out of the water.

Danish scientists found the ancient creature — which is believed to be 512 years old and is 18ft long.

The shark is the world's oldest vertebrate – an animal with a backbone – and may have been born in 1505, when King Henry VIII was just 14 years old.

If these things only grow about 1cm/year, and I believe it given the temperature of the waters they come out of, then this thing has been swimming around out there for a long, long time.

a reply to: ketsuko

Amazing subject

List of longest-living organisms.

a reply to: ketsuko


It sure looks like a 500 year old.


Amazing.

Crazy!
Looks like and old man (or woman).
Wonder if it’s ever bedn caught before.

a reply to: Oaktree

If the wrong (or right) people catch 'em, they eat 'em. It's called hakarl.

a reply to: ketsuko

I hope they didn't kill it in the process.

a reply to: z00mster

Not intentionally. I think they just took some samples for analysis, but I don't think they were trying to harm it.

originally posted by: z00mster
a reply to: ketsuko

I hope they didn't kill it in the process.

You and me both, an amazing find for sure.

Imagine the things its seen in its time.

a reply to: ketsuko

I hear the meat is intoxicating.

a reply to: ketsuko

Would anyone really want to eat that? Would a cannibal eat an OAP? Not likely.

That's why people prefer lamb to mutton...

No reports on whether or not it granted a wish to the fishermen, or gave a quest to find the lost ship of Erik the Red.

originally posted by: Dizrael

originally posted by: z00mster
a reply to: ketsuko

I hope they didn't kill it in the process.

Imagine the things its seen in its time.

Fifty feet of bleak, dark water interspersed with dinner.

originally posted by: thesaneone
a reply to: ketsuko

I hear the meat is intoxicating.

It has to undergo a fermentation process in order to make it safe.



Likely, they figured out how to eat it because they would accidentally catch them and did not want to waste so much meat once they had it in the boat. So they figured out what to do make it edible through trial and error.

quite mind-blowing to imagine living so long. must be incredibly dull.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Imagine 500 years of that! I wonder if she ever dreamed of having legs.

a reply to: ketsuko

I wonder how many people died in that trial...

a reply to: ketsuko

Interesting, it was funny watching him eat it the second time.

originally posted by: Wide-Eyes
a reply to: ketsuko

I wonder how many people died in that trial...

I always wonder that whenever I hear about people eating anything that is really poisonous if handled incorrectly ... like ackee fruit.

originally posted by: Wide-Eyes
a reply to: Kandinsky

Imagine 500 years of that! I wonder if she ever dreamed of having legs.

It's the shark's worst nightmare. They dread having a pair of legs dangling behind them. It's almost a phobia and makes them feel as vulnerable as having your feet hanging out the duvet after a horror movie binge.

a reply to: Kandinsky



Then they wake in a panic because they're trying to breathe in the air!