Unveiling the Legendary Story of Methuselah: An Astoundingly Appropriate Name

Methuselah, the Australian lungfish at Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco, has a name that accurately reflects her extraordinary age. Born in 1938, Methuselah is one of 232 fish that were transported from Australia to the US via steamship. Recent studies suggest that she is the oldest fish currently living in captivity, estimated to be between 92 and 101 years old. According to The Guardian, Methuselah’s age couldn’t be determined using radiocarbon dating, highlighting her exceptional longevity.

To determine her age, scientists employed a “harmless methodology” as stated by the California Academy of Sciences. They took a fin clip, no larger than a pencil eraser, and extracted Methuselah’s DNA from it. LiveScience explains the process further: “The team examined the level of methylation in the fish’s genetic material. Methylation is a biological process in which methyl groups, consisting of a carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms, are added to the DNA molecule. Using this information, they could calculate the time it took for Methuselah to accumulate the observed number of methyl groups in her DNA.”

Charles Delbeek, the Curator of Aquarium Projects at Steinhart Aquarium, expressed excitement about finally obtaining scientific evidence on Methuselah’s true age. He said, “Although we know Methuselah arrived in the late 1930s, there was no method for determining her age at that time, so it’s incredibly exciting to get science-based information on her actual age.” The Guardian provides additional fascinating details about lungfish, describing them as a species more closely related to humans or cows than to ray-finned fish like salmon or cod. The article also mentions that their genome consists of 43 billion base pairs, significantly surpassing the approximately 3 billion base pairs found in our own genome.