It looks like we have a new record holder for the longest living animal, according to a recent find by a team of scientists from Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences. The Arctica islandica, commonly known as the quahog clam, was found living and growing on the seabed off the north coast of Iceland for 400 years.

This new find beats the current Guinness Book of Records holder for the longest-lived animal by nearly two centuries. The Arctica clam collected in 1982 from American waters lived as long as 220 years. Even the other unofficial record holder, a 374 year old Icelandic clam, was no match to the latest specimen, whose age was estimated between 405 to 410 years.

The clam's age was determined by counting the annual growth lines in the shell, much in the same way a tree's age can be studied by counting the tree-rings inside the trunk. Clam shell growth is related to environmental conditions such as seawater temperature, salinity content and food availability. The team was able to study the shell growth histories to better understand the changes in the ocean and the climate changes over the past hundred years.

It was speculated that even longer lived specimens remain to be found in the Icelandic waters. The waters in the area seem like ideal conditions for extreme longevity. Who knows why clams live such long lives. Chris Richardson, one of the team's members, said that this discovery might prove useful to unlock the secret of ageing. He had this to say on the matter:

If, in Arctica islandica, evolution has created a model of successful resistance to the damage of ageing, it is possible that an investigation of the tissues of these real life Methuselahs might help us to understand the processes of ageing. [italics theirs]