World’s oldest freshwater fish lived to 112 YEARS – and was swimming before Titanic and World War I
SCIENTISTS have discovered the world's oldest freshwater fish on record and it has lived through two world wars and was swimming long before the Titanic even existed.
The bigmouth buffalo fish in question lived to be around 112 years old, which is much older than the 26 year life expectancy previously given to its species.
A team of scientists conducted their bigmouth buffalo fish study in the US between 2011 and 2018.
During this time they caught a large number of fish which they observed, photographed and tagged before releasing them.
The researchers wrote in their : "The bigmouth buffalo is capable of living and reproducing to ages that more than quadruple all previous estimates."
Some specimens were also dissected to determine their age.
The researchers used bomb carbon dating on the ear bones of some of the fish and were shocked to find that one was 112 years old.
This technique is only possible thanks to mid-20th century atomic bomb testing.
These nuclear tests doubled the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere before it eventually reduced.
This allows experts to look for carbon-14 in the fish to accurately date it.
Over 85-90% of the fish studied were over 80 years old.
The lack of young fish indicated a problem to the scientists who linked it to dam constructions in the 1930s.
The scientists explained: "Dams on rivers are cited as the leading cause of recruitment failure for bigmouth buffalo because they restrict access to spawning habitats and can mute the environmental cues thought to initiate spawning behaviour."
In other words, human activity is stopping some fish from producing offspring.
Buffalo fish are common in North and Central America and can grow to be over 1.25metres long and can weigh 36kg.
The researchers hope that their work will result in greater appreciation of the fish species and perhaps a way to help it.
This study has been published in .
It's worth noting that although this may be the world's oldest freshwater fish, deep sea fish can live even longer.
The orange roughy can survive for up to 175 years, for instance.
Longest living animals
Here's a list of creatures that were around for a very long time...
- The oldest living human on record was Jeanne Louise Calment who lived to the ripe old age of 122 years and 164 days
- A spider named Number 16 lived until it was 43 years old
- The oldest cat on record lived to 38 years old
- The longest living gold fish was won at a funfair and lived until 43 years old
- Bowhead whales are famed for being the longest living mammal species on Earth with the oldest one living to 211 years old
- A few years ago fishermen caught a Greenland shark which was around 512 years old
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