In 2012, a group of scientists were left speechless when they tried to determine the age of an animal found in Antarctica. The analyzes indicated that had lived 11,000 years. When the first Egyptian pyramid was built, it was already 5,000 years old.
This is a specimen of Monorhaphis chuni, a sea sponge that was found in 1986. Are sponges They have rings that grow annually, like trees. During an analysis in 2012, 11,000 rings were counted.
Until 1765 it was believed that sea sponges They were plants, because they don’t move. But the existence of internal water currents was discovered, so now they are classified as animals.
An 11,000-year-old sea sponge
The oldest animals on Earth have something in common: They are marine animals that live in very cold waters. The cold slows down the metabolism, allowing you to live longer.
Sharks have been dated to be more than 400 years old, and a clam from more than 500 years. But sea sponges break all records, multiplying these figures by 20.
These tubular sea sponges, Monorhaphis chuni, They live mainly in Antarctica. They can measure up to three meters long, and reach one centimeter thick.
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The 11,000-year-old specimen, which was born when mammoths still existedwas found about 1,100 meters deep.
This type of sponge spends its life anchored to the oceanic substrate by a single giant spicule. Its body coils around the spicule forming a continuous cylinder, according to account IFL Science.
This cylinder contains thin sheets of silicon dioxide that grow like tree ringsone a year. That is why it was discovered that the captured specimen, measuring 2.2 meters, is 11,000 years old.
Even larger specimens have been found, up to three meters, so it is estimated that These animals can live up to 15,000 years.
For scientists, the most interesting thing is that a living being with marine rings that cover eleven millennia is a treasure: a record of the water temperature at the bottom of the sea.
In this specific specimen, they have been detected four climatic variationswhich surely correspond to underwater volcanic eruptions, which raised the temperature up to eight degrees Celsius for months.
The sea sponge Monorhaphis chuni It is the oldest animal on Earth, at 11,000 years old. A record of thermal change at the bottom of the oceans.
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Tags: Viral, Curiosities, Environment
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