The impossible claim

This shark was alive before the United States existed — and some swimming today may have been born in the 1700s.

The verified facts

The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) is the longest-living vertebrate known to science. In 2016, researchers radiocarbon-dated the eye lenses of 28 female sharks and estimated the largest at 392 ± 120 years old — born sometime between 1500 and 1750.

  • They grow absurdly slowly: about 1 cm per year, reaching ~5 m as adults, and may not be sexually mature until ~150 years old
  • They swim blind: Ommatokoita elongata, a parasitic copepod, permanently anchors on the eye, clouding the cornea (the shark likely doesn’t mind — it hunts mostly by smell)
  • They live in the cold deep Atlantic and Arctic, down to ~2,200 m, moving at a leisurely ~0.3 m/s — earning the nickname ‘sleeper sharks’
  • One shark examined had eaten an entire reindeer (likely scavenged); their stomachs also turn out moose remains

Watch

🎬 See the Short on YouTube — The Shark Older Than the United States

Sources

  • Nielsen, J. et al. (2016). Eye lens radiocarbon reveals centuries of longevity in the Greenland shark. Science.
  • Berland, B. (1961). Copepod Ommatokoita elongata on Greenland shark eyes. Nature.
  • MacNeil, M. A. et al. (2012). Biology of the Greenland shark Somniosus microcephalus. Journal of Fish Biology.

Part of Impossible Creatures — every fact verified, every creature real. Watch the Shorts at https://www.youtube.com/@taginbertcom.