07/21/2026
When researchers pulled a clam from the icy seabed off the coast of Iceland, it didn’t look extraordinary.
It was simply an ocean quahog a species already known for living remarkably long lives in the cold waters of the North Atlantic.
Nothing about its appearance suggested it was about to rewrite the record books.
The surprise came later.
Scientists estimate the age of ocean quahogs by counting the tiny annual growth bands preserved in their shells, much like counting the rings of a tree. Each line represents another year of life.
When they finished counting, the result was astonishing.
The clam had been alive since 1499.
It was eventually nicknamed “Ming,” after the Chinese dynasty that ruled when the tiny mollusk first settled onto the seafloor.
Estimated to be 507 years old, Ming became the oldest individual animal ever discovered.
While explorers crossed oceans, civilizations changed, and empires rose and fell, the clam remained in the same stretch of seabed, quietly adding one new growth ring after another.
Its story, however, has a bittersweet ending.
Researchers only confirmed Ming’s extraordinary age after opening its shell to count the internal rings—a process that unintentionally ended the clam’s life.
The discovery wasn’t without purpose.
It encouraged scientists to develop more accurate, non-destructive techniques for aging these remarkable animals, making it possible that the next record-breaking clam can be studied without bringing its centuries-long journey to an end.
