Rare Greenland sharks can live up to 272 YEARS – making it the longest living creature on Earth
The shark's life expectancy outstrips bowhead whales, turtles and tortoises and is known to eat polar bears
A RARE shark can live for a jaws-dropping 272 years, a study has found.
Female Greenland sharks are 150 years old before they even reach sexual maturity.
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Research suggests the species has the longest life expectancy of any vertebrate and is Earth’s oldest creature, outstripping bowhead whales, turtles and tortoises.
The monsters, who grow to 23ft, have even been known to eat polar bears.
Sightings are known to be rare as many do live 600 metres under Arctic ice.
Their age was discovered by the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Before, scientists estimated the age of whales by using tissue from the eye lens nucleus and counted growth layers in fin bones.
Researchers used radiocarbon dating for the first time to analyse the eye lens nuclei of 28 females caught accidentally by research vessels.
This was then compared with with the radiocarbon changes in the marine food chain over the past 500 years.
PhD student Julius Nielsen, of Copenhagen University, said: "We used established radiocarbon methods but combined them in a new way.
"This approach, along with the extraordinary ages for these sharks, makes this study highly unusual."
Greenland sharks have been hunted by folk in Iceland and Greenland for centuries.
They have been used to make boots and cutting tools.
Their flesh is also served as part of the Icelandic national dish hakarl.