Found Greenland shark not 512-year-old, misleading reports storm websites

Greenland : Several reports claiming scientists have found a 512-year-old Greenland shark seem to be bogus and inspired from each other as the study quoted by all nowhere mentions about the age of the creature, instead mentions it is centuries old.

Found Greenland shark does, in fact, live to be several centuries old, according to a study that was published in August 2016 in the journal Science.

Researchers analysed 28 female Greenland sharks and nowhere mentioned that any of them is over 500 years old. They tested eye tissues and speculated that the sharks could potentially be as old as 512, according to the study. 

With the found eye tissues, the scientists have measured a range of age for Greenland sharks that is minimum 272 years old, and up to 512 years old; they also mentioned that the most likely average life span was 390 years.

However, the two biggest sharks examined — and likely the oldest — were estimated to be 335 and 392 years old, respectively, Live Science previously reported.

According to official stats by the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG), the sharks could be upto 7 meter long and nearly 1200 kgs in weight.They are slow-moving fish, cruising at about 1 foot per second (0.3 meters/second), and reaching depths of 9,101 feet (2,774 m), GEERG reported.

"It's important to keep in mind there's some uncertainty with this estimate," Nielsen said. "But even the lowest part of the age range — at least 272 years — still makes Greenland sharks the longest-living vertebrate known to science."