Live Fast Die Young: Ocean Longevity 101: Sharks and Bivalves
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| In 2016 Shark studies have proven to be of paramount importance in the research of ocean and human health. |
The Ocean is teaching us a lesson on longevity and it would be wise not only to listen but to take note. This is Ocean Longevity Crash Course 101!
Longevity has since the beginning of our civilization been the Lost Grail of Science. Lets face it...everyone -or almost everyone wants to live forever, perhaps not forever but for a very long long time, after all life is short, they say. But is life short?
New scientific discoveries recently revealed that life is not short for every living thing on this planet and even more they open windows into how to break into longevity success.
On August 12 the Greenland Shark took over the International media when it was discovered it could live up to 500 years -when we say International media we mean not just Ocean media but media like CNN and BBC you get the picture right?
Not only did the Greenland shark jump immediately to the international attention and instant celebrity but it took the Crown for the most long living animal on this planet! -that´s right it can outlive every animal with a backbone -Washington Post words not ours.
But what is the key to the success of the Greenland Shark? Another -completely unrelated study which also broke news side by side the Greenland Shark news but did not not attract that much attention could have the answer. Scientists in this research studied Bivalves -right again organisms like clams and oysters. What they found could hold keys into why the Greenland Shark lives so long.
The Bivalves study assures that ocean organisms which live in high latitudes -that´s near the Poles actually have longer lives. The same study assures that ocean organisms which live near the Equator -guessed again that would be near the lovely Caribbean region, actually have short lives. Scientists from Syracuse University -who for some reason decided to study thousands of bivalves lifespan around the Globe also discovered that Pole dwelling ocean organisms which live a long life have slow growths while Tropical bivalves which live short lives have fast growth processes.
The distribution of Greenland Sharks "is mostly restricted to the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean". Coincidence? You make the guess.
BBC reported on August 12 that the Greenland Shark was crowned as the “longest living vertebrate”.
“Researchers used radiocarbon dating to determine the ages of 28 of the animals, and estimated that one female was about 400 years old. The team found that the sharks grow at just 1 centimeter a year, and reach sexual maturity at about the age of 150,” BBC reported.
The Greenland Shark study was taken on by researchers from the University of Copenhagen and was published in full in the Journal Science.
The lead author -Marine Biologist Julius Nielsen expressed his own surprise.
"We had our expectations that we were dealing with an unusual animal, but I think everyone doing this research was very surprised to learn the sharks were as old as they were," Nielson said.
The Bowhead Whale was not so content with the discovery as it was deranked to second position of the list of the longest living vertebrates on Earth with just 211 years of age.
The research recognized that Greenland Sharks were slow swimmers which took on massive growth processes reaching up to 5 meters span of length. The cold cold waters of the North Atlantic was the location of the study.
Researchers described the growth rate of Greenland Sharks as “sluggish”. Greenland Sharks lifespan now add another marvel to the Shark mystery list which includes in the Human health interest sector: a powerful immune system -probably holding key to fight human cancer, ability to rapidly recover from flesh wounds, incredible pace to fight infections and bacteria and other natural gems with a natural glow.
“...if invertebrates are brought into the longevity competition a 507-year-old clam called Ming holds the title of most aged animal…” BBC reported and they are also right on the money.
Science Daily reported on August 11 on the new study of the University of Syracuse. Researchers of the University proudly and filled with confidence as a result of hard work concluded that “Marine animals which live at high latitudes live longer”. This is a bold statement -one could argue a very general statement to make but these guys know what they are saying after all they studied more than 1 thousand ocean organisms from different latitudes to reach this conclusion.
“After months of work by researchers, two patterns have emerged,” scientists stated.
Scientists from the University´s Department of Earth Science assured that high latitude bivalves live longer and grow slower while those near the Equator in the Tropics have shorter lives and grow rapidly. The second pattern they found was a direct relationship between growth and lifespan. Basically the relationship says that when life years increase growth rate decrease.
The study was considered important enough for publication in full by the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Lead Author of the paper David Moss - Ph.D. student in the Earth Sciences Department gave details of his study which registered 1.1 thousand marine bivalves, from body size to lifespan and growth rate the data of the group of organisms (oysters, clams, scallops and mussels) was eternalized for the good of science in the report. PhD Student Moss explained that this pattern should be consistent with other invertebrates. But what about similar patterns for vertebrates? Do they too have long lives? The Greenland Shark seems to fall straight into this pattern too.
Ok, so Greenland Sharks and Bivalves which live in high latitudes live longer (and colder) lives so what? Why should you care? After all it is not a matter of packing your bags and moving to the Arctic to get a grip on quasi eternal life, Evolution does not work that way. So what's the fuzz all about for a 500 year-old animal and long living clams?
Well actually besides the curious discovery and the added value to the species, and its conservation policies, longevity -as mentioned before is coveted by humans and could present opportunity of interest for the general public in the field of human health and the global fight of deadly diseases with have no found cure today and kill or affect millions every year.
Backbone or no backbone when an “long-living” animal is discovered genetic scientists rush to the grounds -or waters in this case to sample its DNA in search of clues for the human health benefits. A work that takes years but is perhaps one of the most benevolent works to be conducted today.
Whales, Elephants, Black Crocodiles, Birds, Mice the list of animals which have been studied genetically to unravel the mysteries of aging and eventual death are while not endless not short.
The truth is that only in the past years have scientists figured out the DNA mysteries behind aging and death and they are related to environment, cell damage and regeneration. The same degradation process driven by DNA elements affect all living things and are linked to diseases.
To figure out this degradation process is to figure out cures for Cancer, Alzheimer and Parkinson to mention just some of the hundreds of this list.
Drugs have already been proven to but a break on ageing and deterioration. Life habits and environmental conditions are also linked to stop aging.
Cancer.Org reported last year on another animal resasearch which could serve in the fight against cancer. This time it was elephants -also considered as holding “longevity crowns”.
“The DNA of every plant and animal contains the instructions for the chemical reactions that take place in its cells and is essentially the chemical blueprint of that organism. Some of those chemical reactions control how, when, and where cells grow.If those instructions are damaged or deleted, cells can grow and spread abnormally, leading to the diseases we know as cancer,” Cancer.Org assires.
“Much of the recent progress in oncology is based on progress in understanding the changes to certain genes in our DNA that cause cancer,” the organization adds.
For some experts it is not about lifespan but about “Health Span”. The codes of the double helix of the DNA are to be viewed under this perspective. Long lives are usually linked to healthy lives.
Clams, Tortoise, Sharks, Whales, Orcas, Bivalves and the Antarctic Sponge now greet the Greenland Shark to the “longevity” elite.
“The longevity of these sharks is astonishing,” Michael Oellermann -cold water physiologist at Loligo Systems in Viborg, Denmark told Science Magazine. Despite Oellermann did not take part in the study of Greenland Sharks age he highlighted the hostile environment in which the specie lives. Diseases, food availability and predators were listed by the expert as natural dangers the specie face.
“Lower metabolic rate plays a big role," Shawn Xu -Geneticist at the University of Michigan added.
Scientists now know that cold environments activate anti-aging genes which help animals better fold proteins, get rid of damaged DNA and molecules, and fight infections more effectively.
But not all the secrets of the Greenland Shark are known. Still some secrets are safeguarded by the icy environment...and some wish that this remains this way.
“I’m thrilled that this big, bad dogfish is getting so much love at this pivotal time! I hope the widespread, positive attention to remarkable new findings will spark not only further research into the biology of Greenland sharks, but also support for concrete actions to protect these exceptionally vulnerable animals from overfishing,” none other than Sonja Fordham said.
But who on Earth is Sonja Fordham? Sonja Fordham is the Founder of Shark Advocates International -project of The Ocean Foundation, has two decades of shark conservation experience with the Ocean Conservancy, is Deputy Chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group and Conservation Committee Chair for the American Elasmobranch Society, has co-authored numerous publications on Shark Fisheries Management, and serves on most of the US Federal and State Government Advisory Panels relevant to sharks and rays.
Fordham has awards that range from the US Department of Commerce Environmental Hero Award to the Peter Benchley Shark Conservation Award and the IUCN Harry Messel Award for Conservation Leadership.
And speaking of the IUCN they list the the Greenland Sharks as “Near Threatened” on the IUCN Red List. Greenland sharks were once killed in great numbers and today are still hunted and often trapped in bycatch fish traps, gillnets and shrimp trawl fisheries.
“Greenland sharks are among the largest carnivorous sharks on the planet, and their role as an apex predator in the Arctic ecosystem is totally overlooked,” experts said.
What can be done to protect the incredibly long-lived Greenland shark? For Sonja Fordham people should not only discuss how many years Greenland Sharks can live naturally but how this natural incredible lifespan can be cut extremely short by overfishing, human impacts, ice retreat and Arctic ecosystem changes driven by Climate Change.
“There are no scientific estimates of Greenland shark abundance (using traditional stock assessment methods),” Sonja explains -what she really means to say is that no one has an absolute idea on how many Greenland Sharks there are in the water today.
The conservation expert seized the announcement of the magnificent age of Greenland Sharks to campaign for its conservation. In an expose she listed in detail; exploitation, history, Ice fishing, Conservation policies, finning bans, Regional Fishing Management, Legal protections, Europe, Iceland, Norway and US roles, bycatch reduction, Canadian policy, New Arctic Agreements, melting ice, CITIES, and other exhaustive data. Basically Sonja put together a strong case for the conservation of the specie in the best of times when Greenland Sharks popularity peaked thanks to International news, not bad if you ask us, but you didn't so we will move on to other things...
For the PhD student of the University of Syracuse who came up with the study on bivalves the environment of the Poles is relevant from a historical point of view and a shame it is changing.
"The poles are thought to harbor ecosystems like those from millions of years ago, our data suggest that more ancient animals were slow-growing," PhD Student Moss said.
Moss has a special interest in the fossil record of the area which he explains is abundant and could provide more insight on longevity and latitude-lifespan forces.
Moss is now after studies of the “Evolutionary History of Life on Earth” -not small words nor small thinking.
"The distribution of lifespan and growth with latitude might help explain one of the more fundamental patterns in the evolutionary and ecological history of animal life on the planet: the latitudinal diversity gradient," Moss kicked it. But what about you reading this?
...Would you like to live 500 years? Or rather find the cure for diseases affecting the World? Or crave for their protection? ? Or just rather take a cold dive in the Arctic with these Mystical Eternal Creatures?
Whatever gets your kicks, that fine for us.
One thing is certain it does move us deeply that the entire World gets to real talking when some guy discovers that a Shark under the ice can live half a Century!
Longevity has since the beginning of our civilization been the Lost Grail of Science. Lets face it...everyone -or almost everyone wants to live forever, perhaps not forever but for a very long long time, after all life is short, they say. But is life short?
New scientific discoveries recently revealed that life is not short for every living thing on this planet and even more they open windows into how to break into longevity success.
On August 12 the Greenland Shark took over the International media when it was discovered it could live up to 500 years -when we say International media we mean not just Ocean media but media like CNN and BBC you get the picture right?
Not only did the Greenland shark jump immediately to the international attention and instant celebrity but it took the Crown for the most long living animal on this planet! -that´s right it can outlive every animal with a backbone -Washington Post words not ours.
But what is the key to the success of the Greenland Shark? Another -completely unrelated study which also broke news side by side the Greenland Shark news but did not not attract that much attention could have the answer. Scientists in this research studied Bivalves -right again organisms like clams and oysters. What they found could hold keys into why the Greenland Shark lives so long.
The Bivalves study assures that ocean organisms which live in high latitudes -that´s near the Poles actually have longer lives. The same study assures that ocean organisms which live near the Equator -guessed again that would be near the lovely Caribbean region, actually have short lives. Scientists from Syracuse University -who for some reason decided to study thousands of bivalves lifespan around the Globe also discovered that Pole dwelling ocean organisms which live a long life have slow growths while Tropical bivalves which live short lives have fast growth processes.
The distribution of Greenland Sharks "is mostly restricted to the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean". Coincidence? You make the guess.
BBC reported on August 12 that the Greenland Shark was crowned as the “longest living vertebrate”.
“Researchers used radiocarbon dating to determine the ages of 28 of the animals, and estimated that one female was about 400 years old. The team found that the sharks grow at just 1 centimeter a year, and reach sexual maturity at about the age of 150,” BBC reported.
The Greenland Shark study was taken on by researchers from the University of Copenhagen and was published in full in the Journal Science.
The lead author -Marine Biologist Julius Nielsen expressed his own surprise.
"We had our expectations that we were dealing with an unusual animal, but I think everyone doing this research was very surprised to learn the sharks were as old as they were," Nielson said.
The Bowhead Whale was not so content with the discovery as it was deranked to second position of the list of the longest living vertebrates on Earth with just 211 years of age.
The research recognized that Greenland Sharks were slow swimmers which took on massive growth processes reaching up to 5 meters span of length. The cold cold waters of the North Atlantic was the location of the study.
Researchers described the growth rate of Greenland Sharks as “sluggish”. Greenland Sharks lifespan now add another marvel to the Shark mystery list which includes in the Human health interest sector: a powerful immune system -probably holding key to fight human cancer, ability to rapidly recover from flesh wounds, incredible pace to fight infections and bacteria and other natural gems with a natural glow.
“...if invertebrates are brought into the longevity competition a 507-year-old clam called Ming holds the title of most aged animal…” BBC reported and they are also right on the money.
Science Daily reported on August 11 on the new study of the University of Syracuse. Researchers of the University proudly and filled with confidence as a result of hard work concluded that “Marine animals which live at high latitudes live longer”. This is a bold statement -one could argue a very general statement to make but these guys know what they are saying after all they studied more than 1 thousand ocean organisms from different latitudes to reach this conclusion.
“After months of work by researchers, two patterns have emerged,” scientists stated.
Scientists from the University´s Department of Earth Science assured that high latitude bivalves live longer and grow slower while those near the Equator in the Tropics have shorter lives and grow rapidly. The second pattern they found was a direct relationship between growth and lifespan. Basically the relationship says that when life years increase growth rate decrease.
The study was considered important enough for publication in full by the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Lead Author of the paper David Moss - Ph.D. student in the Earth Sciences Department gave details of his study which registered 1.1 thousand marine bivalves, from body size to lifespan and growth rate the data of the group of organisms (oysters, clams, scallops and mussels) was eternalized for the good of science in the report. PhD Student Moss explained that this pattern should be consistent with other invertebrates. But what about similar patterns for vertebrates? Do they too have long lives? The Greenland Shark seems to fall straight into this pattern too.
Ok, so Greenland Sharks and Bivalves which live in high latitudes live longer (and colder) lives so what? Why should you care? After all it is not a matter of packing your bags and moving to the Arctic to get a grip on quasi eternal life, Evolution does not work that way. So what's the fuzz all about for a 500 year-old animal and long living clams?
Well actually besides the curious discovery and the added value to the species, and its conservation policies, longevity -as mentioned before is coveted by humans and could present opportunity of interest for the general public in the field of human health and the global fight of deadly diseases with have no found cure today and kill or affect millions every year.
Backbone or no backbone when an “long-living” animal is discovered genetic scientists rush to the grounds -or waters in this case to sample its DNA in search of clues for the human health benefits. A work that takes years but is perhaps one of the most benevolent works to be conducted today.
Whales, Elephants, Black Crocodiles, Birds, Mice the list of animals which have been studied genetically to unravel the mysteries of aging and eventual death are while not endless not short.
The truth is that only in the past years have scientists figured out the DNA mysteries behind aging and death and they are related to environment, cell damage and regeneration. The same degradation process driven by DNA elements affect all living things and are linked to diseases.
To figure out this degradation process is to figure out cures for Cancer, Alzheimer and Parkinson to mention just some of the hundreds of this list.
Drugs have already been proven to but a break on ageing and deterioration. Life habits and environmental conditions are also linked to stop aging.
Cancer.Org reported last year on another animal resasearch which could serve in the fight against cancer. This time it was elephants -also considered as holding “longevity crowns”.
“The DNA of every plant and animal contains the instructions for the chemical reactions that take place in its cells and is essentially the chemical blueprint of that organism. Some of those chemical reactions control how, when, and where cells grow.If those instructions are damaged or deleted, cells can grow and spread abnormally, leading to the diseases we know as cancer,” Cancer.Org assires.
“Much of the recent progress in oncology is based on progress in understanding the changes to certain genes in our DNA that cause cancer,” the organization adds.
For some experts it is not about lifespan but about “Health Span”. The codes of the double helix of the DNA are to be viewed under this perspective. Long lives are usually linked to healthy lives.
Clams, Tortoise, Sharks, Whales, Orcas, Bivalves and the Antarctic Sponge now greet the Greenland Shark to the “longevity” elite.
“The longevity of these sharks is astonishing,” Michael Oellermann -cold water physiologist at Loligo Systems in Viborg, Denmark told Science Magazine. Despite Oellermann did not take part in the study of Greenland Sharks age he highlighted the hostile environment in which the specie lives. Diseases, food availability and predators were listed by the expert as natural dangers the specie face.
“Lower metabolic rate plays a big role," Shawn Xu -Geneticist at the University of Michigan added.
Scientists now know that cold environments activate anti-aging genes which help animals better fold proteins, get rid of damaged DNA and molecules, and fight infections more effectively.
But not all the secrets of the Greenland Shark are known. Still some secrets are safeguarded by the icy environment...and some wish that this remains this way.
“I’m thrilled that this big, bad dogfish is getting so much love at this pivotal time! I hope the widespread, positive attention to remarkable new findings will spark not only further research into the biology of Greenland sharks, but also support for concrete actions to protect these exceptionally vulnerable animals from overfishing,” none other than Sonja Fordham said.
But who on Earth is Sonja Fordham? Sonja Fordham is the Founder of Shark Advocates International -project of The Ocean Foundation, has two decades of shark conservation experience with the Ocean Conservancy, is Deputy Chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group and Conservation Committee Chair for the American Elasmobranch Society, has co-authored numerous publications on Shark Fisheries Management, and serves on most of the US Federal and State Government Advisory Panels relevant to sharks and rays.
Fordham has awards that range from the US Department of Commerce Environmental Hero Award to the Peter Benchley Shark Conservation Award and the IUCN Harry Messel Award for Conservation Leadership.
And speaking of the IUCN they list the the Greenland Sharks as “Near Threatened” on the IUCN Red List. Greenland sharks were once killed in great numbers and today are still hunted and often trapped in bycatch fish traps, gillnets and shrimp trawl fisheries.
“Greenland sharks are among the largest carnivorous sharks on the planet, and their role as an apex predator in the Arctic ecosystem is totally overlooked,” experts said.
What can be done to protect the incredibly long-lived Greenland shark? For Sonja Fordham people should not only discuss how many years Greenland Sharks can live naturally but how this natural incredible lifespan can be cut extremely short by overfishing, human impacts, ice retreat and Arctic ecosystem changes driven by Climate Change.
“There are no scientific estimates of Greenland shark abundance (using traditional stock assessment methods),” Sonja explains -what she really means to say is that no one has an absolute idea on how many Greenland Sharks there are in the water today.
The conservation expert seized the announcement of the magnificent age of Greenland Sharks to campaign for its conservation. In an expose she listed in detail; exploitation, history, Ice fishing, Conservation policies, finning bans, Regional Fishing Management, Legal protections, Europe, Iceland, Norway and US roles, bycatch reduction, Canadian policy, New Arctic Agreements, melting ice, CITIES, and other exhaustive data. Basically Sonja put together a strong case for the conservation of the specie in the best of times when Greenland Sharks popularity peaked thanks to International news, not bad if you ask us, but you didn't so we will move on to other things...
For the PhD student of the University of Syracuse who came up with the study on bivalves the environment of the Poles is relevant from a historical point of view and a shame it is changing.
"The poles are thought to harbor ecosystems like those from millions of years ago, our data suggest that more ancient animals were slow-growing," PhD Student Moss said.
Moss has a special interest in the fossil record of the area which he explains is abundant and could provide more insight on longevity and latitude-lifespan forces.
Moss is now after studies of the “Evolutionary History of Life on Earth” -not small words nor small thinking.
"The distribution of lifespan and growth with latitude might help explain one of the more fundamental patterns in the evolutionary and ecological history of animal life on the planet: the latitudinal diversity gradient," Moss kicked it. But what about you reading this?
...Would you like to live 500 years? Or rather find the cure for diseases affecting the World? Or crave for their protection? ? Or just rather take a cold dive in the Arctic with these Mystical Eternal Creatures?
Whatever gets your kicks, that fine for us.
One thing is certain it does move us deeply that the entire World gets to real talking when some guy discovers that a Shark under the ice can live half a Century!
