Ocean Quahog

• GeneralThe longest-lived animal known: one individual reached 507 years, counted from the rings of its shell.
• The 507-year-old individual, nicknamed Ming, had been born around the year 1499.
• Its annual growth rings work as a climate archive and make it possible to reconstruct North Atlantic temperatures over the past centuries at annual resolution.
• It can spend days with its metabolism practically at a standstill, using hardly any oxygen.
• It is the longest-lived non-colonial animal known. A specimen dredged off Iceland in 2006, nicknamed Ming, was dated at 507 years old: it was born around 1499, during the Ming dynasty.
• The first estimate was 405 to 410 years, counting the rings of the internal hinge ligament. A later recount, in 2013, used the external rings of the shell and raised the figure to 507.
• And it died when it was opened for the count, which turned the discovery into an awkward anecdote: the oldest known animal was killed in order to find out its age.
• It is no isolated case: the species' average longevity exceeds 225 years, and as far back as 1868 a live specimen of 374 was collected.
• Its growth rings are a climate archive: shells of this species have been used to reconstruct the sea temperature on the Icelandic shelf across 1,357 years.
• Its secret seems to lie in the mitochondria: it has a lower membrane peroxidation index and less free-radical leakage than related bivalves.
• It is fished commercially in the United States, where it is marketed as the ocean quahog.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - external calcareous shell (mollusc)

Habitat and environment

Sandy and muddy bottoms of the North Atlantic

Sexual maturity

12.5 years

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Arctica islandica