Scientists accidentally kill world's oldest animal at age 507

The oldest animal ever known lived from 1499 until the day researchers cracked its shell open, killing it in the process. Ming, an ocean quahog from the species Arctica islandica, was initially thought to be a record-setting 402 years old. But the scientists who found it on a seabed near Iceland in 2006 now say further analysis has revealed that it was an incredible 507 years old, reports CBS. The researchers, who didn't realize how old Ming was when they first found it, opened the ancient clam up to judge its age by counting growth rings inside its hinge ligaments. That's because the rings are "better protected" there, scientist Paul Butler tells ScienceNordic, which notes that Ming was named for the Chinese dynasty that ruled when it was born. But the rings were so close together that scientists ended up having to count the rings on the outside to be accurate, leading CBS to point out that Ming could have lived on, had scientists just started there. "We got it wrong the first time and maybe we were a bit [hasty] publishing our findings back then. But we are absolutely certain that we've got the right age now," says Butler. The old, dead, mollusk still has a huge amount to offer science, reports the HeraldSun. Scientists believe it will provide valuable data on changing sea temperatures over the last half-millenniumand maybe even some clues to longevity.

It's a clamity! Ming the clam, the world's oldest animal, killed at 507 years old by scientists trying to tell how old it was
Ming the clam was first discovered in 2006 and killed by scientists unaware of its age. Recent advances have revised Ming's age upwards by 103 years
A team of researchers from Bangor University have announced that the oldest animal in the world, a species of Icelandic clam known as an ocean quahog, was 507-years-old. Known as Ming, the bivalve mollusc was born in 1499, meaning it was swimming in the oceans before Henry VIII took the English throne. It was named after the Chinese Ming dynasty, which was in power when it was alive. Ming was unfortunately killed by researchers when they opened its shell to find out how old it was. The unlucky mollusc was picked up from an Icelandic seabed back in 2006, but scientists were unaware of the creature's record breaking age. It was originally thought to be 405 years old, but advantages in aging methodology means that this age has recently been revised upwards to 507 years. We got it wrong the first time and maybe we were a bit hastingly publishing our findings back then. But we are absolutely certain that we've got the right age now," Paul Butler, an ocean scientists from Bangor University, told ScienceNordic. Like counting the rings of a tree, the age of bivalves is calculated by totting up growth rings - the lines left annually on the creatures shells by seasonal variations affecting how quickly they grow. Mings original age had been calculated by counting the growth rings on the hinge of the clam, but as the creature was so incredibly old the rings had crowded together making them difficult to distinguish, with more than 500 packed into a space just millimetres across. The new age of 507 years was calculated by instead counting the rings on the shells exterior, where they were more evenly spaced. By comparing unique growth patterns that have been previously linked with specific time periods they were able to verify Mings mighty age.

"Its worth keeping in mind that we caught a total of 200 ocean quahogs on our Iceland expedition, Butler told Science Nordic. Thousands of ocean quahogs are caught commercially every year, so it is entirely likely that some fishermen may have caught quahogs that are as old as or even older than the one we caught. Scientists say that Mings long life is due to its incredibly slow metabolism, but also note that depending on how you define 'age' it is possible that the venerable bivalve is far from being the worlds oldest organism. One species of jellyfish, for example, turritopsis dohrnii, is biologically immortal: instead of dying it simply reverts to an earlier stage in its life cycle. This means that there is no theoretical limit to its life span but also that it is impossible to verify its age. The longest living terrestrial creature was Adwaita, a male giant tortoise that was estimated to be 255 years old when it died in 2006.