A 405-year Old Clam Is The Oldest Known Animal On Earth

[haidut]

The article claims that the reason for the longevity is unknown but speculates that it's probably due to slowed cellular replacement. I wonder if this will be another case of 180-degree turn where clams turn out to have very fast metabolism and very fast cellular renewal.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... -clam.html

"... "I think in my stomach if you start getting up around 600, then maybe that would be the maximum—but that's just pure speculation," he added. Scientists believe the secret to the clams' longevity is a slowed cell-replacement process. But why they age so slowly is unknown. "It is possible that an investigation of the tissues of these real-life Methuselahs might help us to understand the process of aging," team member Chris Richardson said in a media statement. "

 

[Brian]

Maybe there are several routes to longevity for organisms based on their environment.

One being the slow metabolism with extremely low stress. Seems to be evolved in extreme, but steady state environments, such as deserts and the arctic. The organisms are very slow moving or even stationary and usually not mammalian. Maybe the organism might specialize in these metabolic pathways because their environment is low in an essential nutrient such as light, moisture, or calories.

Another being a high metabolism with low to moderate stress. This seems to be the route that most mammals have evolved a capacity for and can accommodate a life with lots of movement and cognition. Maybe total lifespan is slightly lower with this route, but the quality and complexity of life is exponentially greater.

 

[schultz]

Wow I didn't realize clams could live that long.

I have a theory. They found the clam off the northern coast of Iceland. Iceland has 130 volcanic mountains and the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates run right through Iceland from south to north. Perhaps there is a high level of CO2 in the area they found this clam?

 

[SQu]

They killed it in the process!!!

 

[Peata]

The animals and plants that can live forever

 

[Luann]

definitely did some research on this clam (quahog) last week out of curiosity. they also credit stress responses in the cell with the quahog's lifespan. not sure they are right about that, since some charts showed that catalase, s.o.d. responses are not that different from another clam, and also decline with the quahog s age. there was something about how it doesn't prepare for cold temps via unsaturated fats, to the extent other ocean-dwellers do. we'll probably never know.