Rick,

I seem to remember Ron Shimek(?) at Bamfield Marine Station saying that the
very deep water clams, such as some of the Cuspidariidae, could be among
the oldest living things. The possible reason that he stated was that, down
at such extremely high pressure and low temperature, the metabolic rates
(ie. chemical reactions) of animals are slowed down to a crawl and living
takes a long, long time. Am I remembering this correctly? Anyone else know?

Peter Egerton



At 01:48 PM 12/28/00 -0800, you wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Rick Harbo" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "Mark C. Hove" <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2000 1:47 PM
>Subject: Re: mollusca Long-lived mollusk question
>
>
>> You should read the excellent recent article on bowhead whales (may be the
>> longest living animals- more than 200 years old) with refs to Scientific
>> literature, in the magazine EQUINOX September 2000.
>>
>> I have published data for Pacific geoduck clams, commonly more than 100
>> years old, with the oldest sample aged to 146 years old. Recent samples
>> (unpublished) have been aged greater than 150 years.
>>
>> The Guiness Book of World Records has in the past listed the oldest animal
>> as the Atlantic quohaug clam, with estmated ages to 220 years. By
>> comparison, elephants are the oldest living terrestial mammal (50 to 70
>> years) and the giant tortoise live to 150 years.
>>
>> Rick Harbo
>> Fisheries and Oceans Canada
>> Nanaimo, B.C. Canada
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Mark C. Hove" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Cc: "Susan J Weller" <[log in to unmask]>; "Rebecca B Simmons"
>> <[log in to unmask]>; "Matt Scott"
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2000 7:38 AM
>> Subject: mollusca Long-lived mollusk question
>>
>>
>> > I was reading a magazine for children (Ranger Rick, Nov. 2000) with
>> > my kids recently and found an article on one of the world's
>> > longest-living animals - the "ocean clam". The article says these
>> > mollusks live along the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to North
>> > Carolina. Apparently the animals are slow-growing, mature between
>> > 25-30 years, are harvested by people, and may live up to 220 years.
>> > Would someone please share more information with me about this
>> > organism (e.g. species, a reference or two). I'm potentially
>> > interested in using this information in my outreach efforts.
>> >
>> > Thank you,
>> >
>> > Mark Hove
>> > Bell Museum of Natural History
>> > Univ. of Minnesota
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>
-------------------------------------------------------
Peter Egerton, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Collector of worldwide Mollusca, lifetime student
of zoology and computers.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Step into my website:
http://www.intergate.ca/personal/seashell/index.html
(includes "Seashells of British Columbia", links and my resume)
        -Links to add, remove, alter?  Just ask!
        -This is an on-going project.
        -Suggestions always welcome :-)
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