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A Greenland Shark's Eye Lens Never Renews After Birth, Allowing Scientists to Carbon-Date It to 400 Years

Living in frigid Arctic waters, this shark's central eye lens locks in embryonic proteins at birth—preserving Cold War nuclear bomb carbon signatures.

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Why / How?

Because sharks lack calcified bones, researchers long struggled to age them. Radiocarbon dating inert proteins at the eye lens core revealed a lifespan near 400 years—making it the longest-lived vertebrate on Earth.

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Questions & Answers (Quick Guess & Key Takeaway)

Quick Guess: Roughly how many years can a Greenland shark live according to eye-lens radiocarbon dating?

Verified Answer: 400 years

Quiz Question: Which part of a Greenland shark preserves its birth-year radiocarbon signature for ~400 years?

Correct Answer: The metabolically inert core of its eye lens

Eye lens nucleus proteins never regenerate, acting as an unaltered carbon-14 timestamp from birth.

Test This Fact (Quick Quiz)

Which part of a Greenland shark preserves its birth-year radiocarbon signature for ~400 years?

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