400-year-old shark ‘key to living longer’
A SHARK that lives for 400 years could hold the secret to long life, say researchers.
Greenland sharks are thought to have a special gene that lets them live longer – which scientists are now searching for.
Professor Kim Praebel of Norway’s Arctic University, who is leading the hunt, said: “This is the planet’s longest living vertebrate.
“We are sequencing its whole nuclear genome to help discover why.”
His team, along with scientists from Denmark, Greenland, China and the US, has taken fin clippings from almost 100 Greenland sharks, including some born in the 1750s.
He said the deep-water sharks, found from Canada to Norway and off Scotland, were so old they were like “living time capsules”.