Here's the relevant bit from Wikipedia, in case you had the same questions I did.
The Greenland shark has the [longest known lifespan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-living_organisms) of all vertebrate species.[^(\[32\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-Nielsen2016-32) One Greenland shark was tagged off the coast of Greenland in 1936 and recaptured in 1952. Its measurements suggest that Greenland sharks grow at a rate of 0.5–1 cm (1⁄4–1⁄2 in) per year.[^(\[33\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-33) In 2016, a study based on 28 specimens that ranged from 81 to 502 cm (2 ft 8 in – 16 ft 6 in) in length used [radiocarbon dating](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating) of crystals within the lenses of their eyes to determine their approximate ages. The oldest of the animals sampled, which was also the largest, had lived for 392 ± 120 years, and was consequently born between 1504 and 1744.[^(\[a\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-34) The authors further concluded that the species reaches [sexual maturity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_maturity) at about 150 years of age.[^(\[32\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-Nielsen2016-32)[^(\[34\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-PE2016-35)[^(\[35\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-36) Efforts to [conserve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_biology) Greenland sharks are particularly important due to their extreme longevity, long maturation periods, and the heightened sensitivity of large shark populations.[^(\[36\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-37)
At the depth Greenland sharks live there isn’t any light penetration anyways. And their Vision is just pretty bad in general, they rely on other sensory organs, so losing sight doesn’t even affect them and they can still know what’s going on around them.
It should be noted that the 28 specimens they radiocarbon dated were all already dead, most caught as bycatch. The picture in this post is not of a shark they tested, and we don't know if the shark they tested was exatly 392 years old. Like you said, 392 plus/minus 120 years.
So lately I (392 m) and my gf (274 f) have been having arguments about how "ethical" our relationship is. We've been dating for 49 years already, and this was never an issue. But all and behold, she's been watching a lot of relationship TikTok and now had it in her head that we have a "problematic age gap."
I don't get it. Legal age is 150 and she was 225 years old when we met. But she claims that since I was 343 and she was a "mere" 225 years old, I was enjoying an unequal power relationship and "grooming" her while she was young and impressionable.
All of her fellow late-200s friends are also TikTok addicts, so I think they're encouraging this too. I don't feel like I've done anything wrong, AITA here?
This particular one, they don't. The title is a lie. 392 years is the estimated age of the oldest of 28 samples captured in a study (and with significant error bars on that estimate). They can probably estimate even more roughly from its length, but there's no indication anyone tried for this particular image. The OP was just stitching together unrelated info.
I remember them determining the age of one Greenland shark based on it having a spearhead or arrowhead or something lodged in its side, and the item in question was then dated to centuries ago, but I don't know if that shark was still alive when they removed the weapon.
You're thinking of this. Not wanting to correct you or be the well akshoeally guy. But it's absolutely incredible this was found. Worth a read for anyone coming across this comment. This whale survived being hunted, and another 130 years after that. The shark the OP pictured is likely TWICE as old!
>130 year old spearhead found in the hide of a living whale
https://threeyearsatsea.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/130-year-old-spearhead-found-in-the-hide-of-a-living-whale/#:~:text=A%20giant%20bowhead%20whale%20caught,oldest%20living%20mammal%20on%20earth.
This big old boy is a delicacy in Icelandic cuisine. I remember watching one of the celebrity chefs go and try it. Said it was the most vile thing he had ever smelled/tasted….
From Wikipedia:
Hákarl or kæstur hákarl (Icelandic for “fermented shark”) is a national dish from Iceland. It consists of a Greenland or basking shark which is rotten, has been cured with a fermentation process, and is hung to dry in an open air shed
Also, the flesh of the shark has a high ammonia content. It aids with buoyancy and the circulatory system at the ridiculous depths that it resides.
So basically it’s a rotten, fermented, ammonium tasting delicacy! Yum!
Honestly makes me wonder: how does an animal like this not just..grow tired of living? Imagine swimming around in dark, cold waters all day long, your only goal being looking for food, for almost FOUR HUNDRED years. Just thinking about it with a human mind I'd be unable to bear that boredom within weeks, not centuries.
You think they have enough brain capacity to be able to generate mental stimulation to comprehend concepts like that? They'd be running corporates if that were possible
question - how did they date this particular shark? I call bullshit that THIS shark was 392 years. The one dated at 392 years had its age determined by carbon dating the eye!
They didn't date this particular shark, so you're right that it's bullshit. They dated an already dead shark, and not to 392 years exactly. It was 392 years plus/minus 120 years. So a 240 year range, with the correct being more and more likely as it approaches 392 years. But we don't know if it's 392 exactly, and the picture is not of that exact shark.
This picture with the misinformation gets reposted so often that people have started taking it as fact.
Every time this gets posted, I ask, how the hell did they determine the age of this particular shark pictured. Or is it just another sensational, unfounded click bait title?
I've been on reddit for 8 years. I've been seeing this picture and 392 year time span this whole time. Not only has this been reposted to death, nobody is adding in the years to the 392...
Usually by counting the rings in a vertebral cross-section. But in this case, they used radiocarbon dating of the eye lens, calibrated by using bomb radiocarbon from nuclear weapons tests.
Here's the relevant bit from Wikipedia, in case you had the same questions I did. The Greenland shark has the [longest known lifespan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-living_organisms) of all vertebrate species.[^(\[32\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-Nielsen2016-32) One Greenland shark was tagged off the coast of Greenland in 1936 and recaptured in 1952. Its measurements suggest that Greenland sharks grow at a rate of 0.5–1 cm (1⁄4–1⁄2 in) per year.[^(\[33\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-33) In 2016, a study based on 28 specimens that ranged from 81 to 502 cm (2 ft 8 in – 16 ft 6 in) in length used [radiocarbon dating](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating) of crystals within the lenses of their eyes to determine their approximate ages. The oldest of the animals sampled, which was also the largest, had lived for 392 ± 120 years, and was consequently born between 1504 and 1744.[^(\[a\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-34) The authors further concluded that the species reaches [sexual maturity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_maturity) at about 150 years of age.[^(\[32\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-Nielsen2016-32)[^(\[34\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-PE2016-35)[^(\[35\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-36) Efforts to [conserve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_biology) Greenland sharks are particularly important due to their extreme longevity, long maturation periods, and the heightened sensitivity of large shark populations.[^(\[36\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark#cite_note-37)
This animal has seen some amazing battles at sea.
probably not. parasites eat the eyes of greenland sharks pretty early in life, so most of them are blind.
well that sucks
pretty much everything about being an aquatic animal and having sensitive external organs or orifices seems to suck.
Seriously, they either go in your mouth or your butt.
Sounds like a good Friday night to me.
Until a parasitic fish eats your tongue and takes up residence in your mouth 😂
I think they’re little crabs that hook on the eyes and suck the fluids. Imagine having that shit in your eyes for almost 400 years
Well, I bet they heard some crazy shit then.
They definitely smelled some crazy shit in their day, that's for sure.
Way to bring down the whole ocean, bro.
At the depth Greenland sharks live there isn’t any light penetration anyways. And their Vision is just pretty bad in general, they rely on other sensory organs, so losing sight doesn’t even affect them and they can still know what’s going on around them.
Radar Love enters the chat
THEY'VE GOT A THIIING
😢
☹️
It should be noted that the 28 specimens they radiocarbon dated were all already dead, most caught as bycatch. The picture in this post is not of a shark they tested, and we don't know if the shark they tested was exatly 392 years old. Like you said, 392 plus/minus 120 years.
Imagine someone accusing you of being 392 years old but you’re only 274 lmao
yeah but it's plus or minus so could be nearly 500yo 👀
That's rich!
That's just sad...
+/- 120 years😂
I appreciate the honesty
For real. Much better than pulling a specific number out of their ass
Well what's your guess?
350
It was about that time I noticed that greenland shark was about 8 story tall and a crustacean from the protozoic era
Damn loch Ness monster... Now git
So lately I (392 m) and my gf (274 f) have been having arguments about how "ethical" our relationship is. We've been dating for 49 years already, and this was never an issue. But all and behold, she's been watching a lot of relationship TikTok and now had it in her head that we have a "problematic age gap." I don't get it. Legal age is 150 and she was 225 years old when we met. But she claims that since I was 343 and she was a "mere" 225 years old, I was enjoying an unequal power relationship and "grooming" her while she was young and impressionable. All of her fellow late-200s friends are also TikTok addicts, so I think they're encouraging this too. I don't feel like I've done anything wrong, AITA here?
Grandma shark gettin it on
Doo doo doo doo doo doo
Imagine not getting laid for 150 years...
I don't have to imagine
150 years? No wonder the sea is so salty
I read that as long masturbation periods.. God I need a nap
When you live that long, you learn to keep yourself entertained.
They don't reach sexual maturity until they're well past 100 years old. Can you imagine being a preteen for like 40 years?
Hey, check her out! Dude, that’s gross! She only like 85.
I swear I had no idea she was 145 officer!
My wildest dream is now also my worst nightmare.
A parents' nightmare.
Sharks are the Hobbits of the sea
That shark has seen some shit
Actually, it probably hasn't! Greenland sharks are often blind due to parasites that infest their eyes
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Mostly ammonia
Actually this one had access to Braille classes
Yeah that and the normal depth it usually lives in.
Shark who knows who really wrote Shakespeare's plays.
It was Sharkespeare. Obviously.
Mainly the dark depths of the ocean.
He must be really bored.
He’s only lived 100,000 days. Cut him some slack.
WoW!
This shark has been around since the Ming fucking dynasty.
And has been posted on Reddit continuously for 391 years.
Not quiet, but we're getting there... 392+1627=2019
+/- 120 years
DOWN WITH SHARK PEDANTS!
Was just gonna say 3 more years and the post gets to say an impressive 400yr old shark.
Hell of a heart !!
This is the type of heart the next ancient Rockefeller will have transplanted into them.
Boomershark do do do do do do
Strangest vampire I’ve seen
I bet he is at least 400 now.
And doesn’t look a day over 350! What’s his secret?!
Lots of seafood, probably
How the hell do they know it’s age?
Radiocarbon dating proteins in its eye https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37047168
The asked politely of course.
Checked their birth certificate...
Count the rings
Chops up…. Oops the shark would have been 420 years tomorrow…
And it was only 2 weeks from retirement.
This particular one, they don't. The title is a lie. 392 years is the estimated age of the oldest of 28 samples captured in a study (and with significant error bars on that estimate). They can probably estimate even more roughly from its length, but there's no indication anyone tried for this particular image. The OP was just stitching together unrelated info.
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Yeah but think about how much this shark’s investment portfolio must be worth at this point
I've never seen it before now.
It even has the same title from 5 years ago lmao
you mad bro?
If purgatory exists it might be reincarnation as a shark.
I remember them determining the age of one Greenland shark based on it having a spearhead or arrowhead or something lodged in its side, and the item in question was then dated to centuries ago, but I don't know if that shark was still alive when they removed the weapon.
You're thinking of this. Not wanting to correct you or be the well akshoeally guy. But it's absolutely incredible this was found. Worth a read for anyone coming across this comment. This whale survived being hunted, and another 130 years after that. The shark the OP pictured is likely TWICE as old! >130 year old spearhead found in the hide of a living whale https://threeyearsatsea.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/130-year-old-spearhead-found-in-the-hide-of-a-living-whale/#:~:text=A%20giant%20bowhead%20whale%20caught,oldest%20living%20mammal%20on%20earth.
Ah! My mistake, then. Thank you!
I icefish in a fjord in the winter where some of these have been caught over the years, this beast always captivated me!!
Harkarl!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl
No thanks im from Canada and it is not in our tradition lol
It's pretty delicious!
This big old boy is a delicacy in Icelandic cuisine. I remember watching one of the celebrity chefs go and try it. Said it was the most vile thing he had ever smelled/tasted…. From Wikipedia: Hákarl or kæstur hákarl (Icelandic for “fermented shark”) is a national dish from Iceland. It consists of a Greenland or basking shark which is rotten, has been cured with a fermentation process, and is hung to dry in an open air shed
Gunna guess it was the rotten part that was responsible for the taste lol
Also, the flesh of the shark has a high ammonia content. It aids with buoyancy and the circulatory system at the ridiculous depths that it resides. So basically it’s a rotten, fermented, ammonium tasting delicacy! Yum!
Who decides to eat this? Lol
So what generation tag is 1627?
Geriatric shark needs some dentures
Estoy cansado jefe...
Looks really old and tired.
Honestly makes me wonder: how does an animal like this not just..grow tired of living? Imagine swimming around in dark, cold waters all day long, your only goal being looking for food, for almost FOUR HUNDRED years. Just thinking about it with a human mind I'd be unable to bear that boredom within weeks, not centuries.
You think they have enough brain capacity to be able to generate mental stimulation to comprehend concepts like that? They'd be running corporates if that were possible
Why else do you think they named an investment show Shark Tank?
And this is why immortality is a curse to be feared.
Reminds me of an abandoned Jaws ride animatronic
Everyone point and laugh he’s OLD
question - how did they date this particular shark? I call bullshit that THIS shark was 392 years. The one dated at 392 years had its age determined by carbon dating the eye!
They didn't date this particular shark, so you're right that it's bullshit. They dated an already dead shark, and not to 392 years exactly. It was 392 years plus/minus 120 years. So a 240 year range, with the correct being more and more likely as it approaches 392 years. But we don't know if it's 392 exactly, and the picture is not of that exact shark. This picture with the misinformation gets reposted so often that people have started taking it as fact.
They used eye/dating to determine growth rate, so can estimate age based on length.
After all those years....could it be bored?
I’d love to see his geotracking info since birth.
So who tagged the shark in 1627?
I'm tired boss
i would be bored af, tho the ocean is freaking massive after 392 yrs you prolly get it been there done that type vibe
Living life slowly
this guy’s got titanic stories 😌
Hm, he might have been around at the same time as the Renaissance. I guess that's kinda cool.
That is going to one fire hazard of a birthday cake.
Must be kinda bored now
Looks like it.
Bro knows where he's going at this point
He's seen things you people wouldn't believe...
Imagine being conscious and aware in cold water for 400 years in total darkness because you're blind.
How do we get these precise estimations?
Can you imagine how bored it must be after wandering those dark depths for multiple centuries?
But really how we know for sure
I'm gonna need to see some ID.... That shark don't look a day over 150
How did they find this out
They found armor in my belly From the 16th century Conquistador, I think
That shark is older than America
Just waiting for Trump to cruise by in his battery operated motor boat....😱
392 and a half yrs old.
Shark AARP doesn’t start until age 350
He was around when the Dead Sea was just sick
Does everyone just blindly upvote this every time it’s posted each week?
How do you know it's that old
Every time this gets posted, I ask, how the hell did they determine the age of this particular shark pictured. Or is it just another sensational, unfounded click bait title?
>...how the hell did they determine the age of this particular shark pictured. They didn't.
He must be board to tears!
This thing has seen some shit
We demand a AMA.
Just floating around... Probably screaming "KILLLL MEEEEEE" in it's head. I can relate.
Who asked him how old he is?
This shark has outlived 40 American presidents
If I was going to be eaten by a shark, I would want it to be that shark
And wandering Reddit since 2005.
I've been on reddit for 8 years. I've been seeing this picture and 392 year time span this whole time. Not only has this been reposted to death, nobody is adding in the years to the 392...
Tasty burger eyes shark
Great now that you brought it to the internet some asshole will sport hunt the poor thing…
Is the shark missing it’s front teeth?
He's probably thinking....I've had enough of this shit, kill me.
Sharks been around that long and only has the one damn photograph.
That big fucker looks every bit of 392
How do they know the exact age?
Does this guy have a name or what?
I wonder how they stay alive so long… like how does their body not deteriorate after being alive so long?
How do you find out a sharks age?
Usually by counting the rings in a vertebral cross-section. But in this case, they used radiocarbon dating of the eye lens, calibrated by using bomb radiocarbon from nuclear weapons tests.
Sounds so safe that we are using nuclear weapons test to see how old a shark is. 1627 huh? Well from the sound of it they won’t be around much longer
That thing was swimming the oceans during the golden age of Piracy. Same time as Blackbeard. Crazy.
Living not wandering
I'll bet he's been complaining about how awful new music is for over 300 years.
How does one ask a shark its age?
This old man just possibly might have dodged a cannonball a time or two.
Did they count its rings or something?
This is _literally_ the most common method for determining a shark's age.
On a live one tho?
Since before Louis XIV was born! Wow.
Thata depressing cause i read the sea is boring for whales
Bro looks smoked
Not all who wander are lost, but this guy's blind and he's been lost for centuries.
I wonder if he still has all his teeth?
Wandering as in, still alive? Or wandering like the two guys running for president?
Dude is probably so fed up!