Ming ( 1498 or 1499–2006), also known as Hafrún, was an

ocean quahog The ocean quahog (''Arctica islandica'') is a species of edible clam, a marine (ocean), marine bivalve mollusc, mollusk in the family Arcticidae. This species is native to the North Atlantic Ocean, and it is harvested commercially as a food sou ...

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve mollusc. The word is often applied only to those that are deemed edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the sea floor or riverbeds. Clams h ...

(''

Arctica islandica The ocean quahog (''Arctica islandica'') is a species of edible clam, a marine (ocean), marine bivalve mollusc, mollusk in the family Arcticidae. This species is native to the North Atlantic Ocean, and it is harvested commercially as a food sou ...

'', family

Arcticidae The Arcticidae are a family of marine clams in the order Venerida. The only living species in the family is ''Arctica islandica''. There are also many fossil species classified in a number of genus, genera.dredged Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing dams ...

off the coast of

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

in 2006 and whose age was calculated by counting annual growth lines in the shell. Ming was the oldest individual (non- clonal) animal ever discovered whose age could be precisely determined. Thought to be 405 years old, Ming was later determined to be 507 years old, although the clam had previously been killed to make this determination. The size of the clam was .

Name

The clam was initially named Ming by ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' journalists, in reference to the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, during which it was born. Later, the Icelandic researchers on the cruise which discovered the clam named it Hafrún, a woman's name which translates roughly as 'the mystery of the ocean'; taken from , 'ocean', and , 'mystery'. The actual sex of the clam, however, is unknown, as its reproductive state was recorded as "spent".

Original discovery

The clam was dredged off the northern coast of

in 2006. In 2007, on the basis of counting the annual growth bands on the cross-sectional surface of the

hinge A hinge is a mechanical bearing that connects two solid objects, typically allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them. Two objects connected by an ideal hinge rotate relative to each other about a fixed axis of rotation, with all ...

region of the shell, researchers announced that the clam was 405 years old. The research was carried out by researchers from

Bangor University Bangor University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 ...

. In the process, the clam died. Professor Richardson said that the existence of such long-lived species could help scientists discover how some animals reach such advanced ages. The mollusk's long life came to an end in 2006 when the researchers—unaware of the animal's exceptional age—froze the specimen, killing it in the process.

Revision of age

In 2013, another assessment of the age of the clam was carried out counting bands which were measured on the sectioned surface of the outer shell margin and this was verified by comparing the banding patterns with those on other shells that were alive at the same time; this confirmed that the clam was 507 years old when it was caught. The revised age estimate is also supported by

carbon-14 dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

; marine biologist Rob Witbaard commented that he considers this second assessment accurate to within 1–2 years.

References

{{Reflist Individual molluscs 15th-century beginnings 2006 animal deaths Arcticidae Individual wild animals Clams Ming dynasty

Name

Original discovery

Revision of age

See also

References