Natures wonders: longest lived organisms (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, July 20, 2017, 19:51 (2471 days ago) @ David Turell

Already known, Sequoias at 3,000 years, Bristlecone pines at 4,000 years and deep-sea worms are now found to be perhaps 1,000 years old:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2141387-giant-deep-sea-worms-may-live-to-be-1000-y...

"These tube worms live between 1000 and 3300 metres below sea level in aggregations from five to more than 200 individuals around cold seeps. This environment also provides a habitat for brittlestars, shrimps, crabs, mussels, clams, snails, limpets and a huge variety of smaller species of worms.

“The tube worms look like oversized plastic straws with a delicate pink flower at the end when the animal extends its petal-like plume – a gill-like organ for gas exchange – out of the top of its tube,” says Durkin. They can measure more than 1.5 metres, and feed through a symbiotic relationship they form with bacteria that thrive in these seeps.

"Researchers fed real-life data into the model by looking at how much worms of different sizes grew over a single year. This served to reveal how fast they grow at varying stages of their lives, Durkin explains.

“'Then we can use that data to simulate tube worms growing over time to find out how many years it would take these animals to reach a particular size,” she says.

"According to the model, some of the tube worms have been around for hundreds of years – with some maybe even thousands of years old. It is hard to put an upper limit on their age, because they grow more slowly as they get older.

“There may indeed be large E. laminata over 1000 years old in nature, but given our research we are more confident reporting a lifespan of at least 250 to 300 years,” says Durkin.

"This suggests that the tube worms are the second-longest-living non-colonial species ever found in the depths of the ocean – the deep-sea clam Arctica islandica can live for 500 years or more. Colony-forming animals, including some corals, are estimated to live for over 4000 years.

“'It’s possible that new record-breaking lifespans will be discovered in the deep sea, since we are finding new species and new habitats almost every time we send down a submersible,” says Durkin."

Comment: The bush of life shows that the aging clock in each type of life is wildly different. The control is unknown. If found could humans control their own aging?