Is This the Longest Living Animal in the World?

The individual and population level approaches indicate that larger Escarpia laminata individuals live longer than 250 years. An Escarpia laminata tubeworm fifty centimeters in length is predicted to be 202 years old. This species therefore lives much longer than its relatives, Lamellibrachia luymesi and Seepiophila jonesi. This lifespan is also far beyond estimates based on universal scaling laws for Escarpia laminata’s body size and ambient temperature.

According to Durkin, Escarpia laminata’s extremely low death rate has helped it evolve a very long lifespan. The results support longevity theory, which states that in the absence of any external threats natural selection will select for individuals that show signs of ageing more slowly and can reproduce continually into their old age.

“At more than 250 years old, Escarpia laminata achieves a lifespan that exceeds other longevity records,” says Durkin. “Given the uncertainty associated with estimating the ages of the longest individuals, there may be large Escarpia laminata tubeworms alive in nature that live even longer.”

The longest-lived land vertebrate ever recorded was a 177-year-old Galapagos giant tortoise, while bowhead whales of 211 years old have been recorded as the longest-lived mammal. Durkin says the marine clam Arctica islandica remains the oldest non-colonial animal known, with an inferred age of 507 years.

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Citation: Durkin, A. et al (2017). Extreme longevity in a deep-sea vestimentiferan tubeworm and its implications for the evolution of life-history strategies, The Science of Nature. DOI 10.1007/s00114-017-1479-z