392 year-old shark discovered in Greenland, is now the longest living vertebrate animal to live. How was the sharks age determined? The Greenland shark, also known as the grey shark, grows 1 cm per year. The average shark is 5 meters long. But then they tested for bomb-pulses of carbon-14, which was left behind from nuclear bomb testing in the 50's.
Using the information of the testing for
carbon-14 and the growth curve of the shark, they correlated the two to estimate its age. This is the second longest living animal, behind the Icelandic clam, Ming, that lived to 507 y/o.
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