Some Fish in the Great Lakes Might Be More Than 400 Years Old, a Study Suggests, Outliving Around 15 Generations of Humans

In the early 17th century, a refined version of the first telescope spotted some moons of the planet Jupiter, which is up to 54 light-minutes away. Horse riding was the fastest mode of land transportation, and smallpox ran rampant. Now, 400 years later, we have spotted a galaxy that is 13.5 billion light-years away.

The fastest crewed train in the world has touched a speed of 375 miles per hour. We’ve completely eradicated smallpox. And some fish in the Great Lakes may have been alive this entire time.

Research published this year in the Journal of Fish Biology suggests lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) have remarkable life spans. The study concludes that males may live up to 435 years, possibly more, which is nearly three times the age of the previously known oldest lake sturgeon. Still, the authors note the need for further research to confirm the findings.

Lake sturgeon are cartilaginous fish whose ancestors existed among dinosaurs 200 million years ago. Today, they’re the largest fish in the Great Lakes, typically reaching four to six feet long and weighing 30 to 80 pounds. Their average life span, according to existing research, is 50 to 100 years.

A 154-year-old sturgeon caught on the border of Minnesota and Canada in 1953 was previously considered the oldest ever. But accurately estimating the life spans of wild fish isn’t easy. Each dark ring on a fish’s scales, or on the pectoral fin spines of non-scaly fish such as sturgeons, represents a year of the animal’s life.

Counting these rings, or annuli, can estimate the ages of fast-growing and relatively young fish, says study co-author Edward Baker, a fisheries researcher at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. However, in long-lived and slow-growing sturgeons, the annuli eventually begin to form close together and become indistinguishable—or they don’t form at all. For this study, Baker and his colleagues used a different aging technique.