400 year-old clam is 'oldest animal'

[Allegra]

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Ming the clam is 'oldest animal'

A clam dredged up off the coast of Iceland is thought to have been the longest-lived creature discovered.

Scientists said the mollusc, an ocean quahog clam, was aged between 405 and 410 years and could offer insights into the secrets of longevity.
Researchers from Bangor University in north Wales said they calculated its age by counting rings on its shell. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest-lived animal was an Arctica clam found in 1982 aged 220.

 

[HardScienceFan]

that should read longest living non-clonal animal.

Ben,
pedant

 

[Talysia]

What a fascinating find - to think that Ming the Clam has been around for such a long time. Thanks, Allegra!

 

[dustinzgirl]

Well, probably not anymore....since they dug it up and its probably dead by now.

 

[mosaix]

Well, probably not anymore....since they dug it up and its probably dead by now.

My thoughts too DG.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Yeah, that was the first thing I thought of when I read the article. Makes you wonder just how long it would've lived.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Makes you wonder just how long it would've lived.

Except that no one would have known and Science would not have been Served.

So I suppose it's a better end for the clam than ending up in somebody's dish of paella. (Though not from the clam's viewpoint, of course.)

 

[JDP]

Hmmm, I hope this doesn't spark a war with the Mingites. I picture an invasion by angry clams to reclaim their antediluvian overlord. We can only pray they're already caught up in a war of succession.

 

[Curt Chiarelli]

I picture an invasion by angry clams to reclaim their antediluvian overlord. We can only pray they're already caught up in a war of succession.

Or haven't already made the requisite prayers to Mother Hydra and Father Dagon!

"The clam, nicknamed Ming after the Chinese dynasty in power when it was born, was in its infancy when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne and Shakespeare was writing plays such as Othello and Hamlet."

Too bad the Inter-Library Loan System didn't have a branch office located at the bottom of the North Atlantic at that time.

Fascinating article Lily! And yes, I feel compelled to join the chorus here and wonder out loud how much longer our little friend Ming would have lived had he not succumbed to the dredging net.

 

[Ursa major]

Oh, and there was I thinking it was named after a British party political leader who was hounded from his job because he is only 10 years younger than R*p*rt M*rd*ch‡.

‡ Sorry for this blatant use of bad language.

 

[tangaloomababe]

There it was, living a nice quiet life watching marine life come and go, witnessing the odd shark attack, ship wreck, occasional divers etc etc, then ......... wooosh up she comes. Oh well its been a good four hundred years or so!!!!!!!