20/10/2026
Scientists have discovered that Greenland sharks can live for centuries, making them the longest-lived vertebrates known to science.
A groundbreaking study published in Science in 2016 estimated that one Greenland shark was approximately 392 years old, meaning it may have been born around 1624.
However, this was an estimate, not an exact age. Researchers calculated an uncertainty range of 272 to 512 years, so the shark’s actual age remains unknown.
Greenland sharks inhabit the cold, deep waters of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, where temperatures often remain just a few degrees above freezing.
These enormous predators can grow more than 6 meters long, yet they move remarkably slowly, typically swimming at speeds below 2 kilometers per hour.
Their slow metabolism and extremely cold environment are believed to contribute to their extraordinary longevity.
Unlike trees, sharks do not have annual growth rings that scientists can easily count to determine their age.
Instead, researchers used radiocarbon dating to analyze proteins in the lenses of their eyes.
These proteins form early in life and remain largely unchanged, providing clues about when the animals were born.
The researchers examined 28 female Greenland sharks and found evidence that the largest individuals could be several centuries old.
Even more remarkably, scientists estimated that female Greenland sharks may not reach sexual maturity until approximately 150 years of age.
This extremely slow reproductive development makes the species particularly vulnerable to overfishing and population decline.
However, the viral claim that a specific 392-year-old shark was recently discovered swimming in the Arctic is misleading. The age comes from a scientific estimate published in 2016, not a newly verified individual.
The findings reveal that some animals alive today may have been born centuries before the Industrial Revolution.
Source: Science (2016), Nielsen et al.; University of Copenhagen; NOAA Fisheries.
