The longest-living animals can survive for centuries and millennia, even pausing the aging process altogether. Here are the longest-living animals in the world.
5. Ocean quahog clam: 500+ years old
This saltwater species can live even longer than the other bivalve on this list, the freshwater pearl mussel. One ocean quahog clam found off the coast of Iceland in 2006 was 507 years old, according to National Museum Wales in the U.K. The ancient clam was nicknamed Ming because it was born in 1499, when the Ming dynasty ruled China (from 1368 to 1644).
4. Black coral: 4,000+ years old
Corals look like colorful, underwater rocks and plants, but they are actually made up of the exoskeletons of invertebrates called polyps. Deep-water black corals are among the longest-living corals. Black coral specimens found off the coast of Hawaii have been radiocarbon dated to be 4,265 years old.
3. Glass sponge: 10,000+ years old
Sponges are made up of colonies of animals, similar to corals, and can also live for thousands of years. Glass sponges are among the longest-living sponges on Earth. A 2012 study published in the journal Chemical Geology estimated that a glass sponge belonging to the species Monorhaphis chuni was about 11,000 years old.
2. Turritopsis dohrnii: potentially immortal
Turritopsis dohrnii is called the immortal jellyfish because it can potentially live forever. Jellyfish start life as larvae before establishing themselves on the seafloor and transforming into polyps. These polyps then produce free-swimming medusas, or jellyfish.
1. Hydra: potentially immortal
Hydra is a group of small invertebrates with soft bodies that slightly resemble jellyfish and, like T. dohrnii, have the potential to live forever. These invertebrates are largely made up of stem cells, which continually regenerate through duplication or cloning, so these animals don’t deteriorate as they get older.
