Scientists have just discovered an old shark in the North Atlantic. They knew that this shark had definitely gotten older, but they didn’t know how old it was until recently. Its estimated age is 512 years, which is a huge number.

If it’s true, this old shark would be 512 years old, making it the oldest vertebrate still alive on Earth.

Greenland sharks tend to live longer than most other animals because they grow very slowly. This is true even though 500 years seems like an incredibly long time. Sharks of this species usually reach adulthood at about 150 years old, but there are stories of sharks living to be 400 years old. With the recent discovery of a 512-year-old, no question a record has been broken.

This shark was born in 1505, which is 512 years before Shakespeare.

The discovery was written up in a study that was published in the journal Science. Radiocarbon dating of their eye lenses, which was discovered by marine biologist Julius Nielsen and his team, was used to figure out how old Greenland sharks are thought to be.

The biologist said, “It definitely tells us that this creature is unique, and it should be thought of as one of the oldest animals in the world.”

This research study goes against what scientists and teachers have always thought by showing that Greenland sharks can live much longer than was thought before.

At least 28 Greenland sharks’ data were collected and looked at for this article. The old ways of figuring out how old these sharks were could have been more accurate, but the new way is better.

In the past, scientists used the size of an animal as a stand-in for its length. Members of the “Somniosidae” shark family add about 0.4 inches to their total length every year. Once a shark reaches a certain level of maturity, this method can only give a rough idea of how old it is and is not considered scientifically reliable because of this.

“For decades, fish biologists have tried but failed to figure out how old Greenland sharks are and how long they live. Expert Steven Campana from the University of Iceland said, “Given that this shark is the top predator (king of the food chain) in Arctic waters, it’s almost hard to believe that we didn’t know whether the shark lives for 20 years or 1,000 years.”

Nearly all of Professor Nielsen’s career has been spent studying Greenland sharks. The expert showed a picture of a polar bear’s rotting body, which the animals are known to eat. He also says that the species’ eyes don’t look very healthy because they have to deal with parasites that stick to them.

These sharks can live for hundreds of years, so you will find them in different places for a very long time. Researchers looked at sharks from all over the world and found genetic data that was remarkably consistent. They see this as proof that all sharks have a common ancestor and then spread all over the world. Even though scientists don’t know exactly how Greenland sharks reproduce, they do know that the cold waters of the Arctic are perfect for these fish.

Scientists want to learn more about the Greenland shark because, compared to other vertebrates, it lives for a very long time.

Scientists plan to try to find a link between the genes that make sharks live longer and those that make other animals live longer.

He said, “This is the longest living vertebrate on Earth.” “Along with our colleagues in Denmark, Greenland, the United States, and China, we are currently sequencing its whole nuclear genome. This will help us figure out why the Greenland shark lives longer than other sharks and other vertebrates.”

When asked how this shark could have lived for more than 500 years, the researcher thought it was because it lived in cold water, which slowed down its metabolism. But right after that, he says that this is just a theory and that more research needs to be done.

“The likely reason is that they have a very slow metabolism and live in cold water. I’m just bringing this news. I Don’t Know.”