This strange pipe worm may be the longest living animal in the world

This worm can live longer than us.

Instead of turtles or whales, perhaps the tubeworm is the longest-lasting animal. A new study has shown that animals that live deep in the Gulf of Mexico can live for 100 to 300 years.

Researcher Alanna Durkin from Temple University (USA) said: "At the age of over 250, Escarpia laminata (scientific name of a species of pipeworm) achieves a higher life expectancy than previous records of longevity. animal'.

Meanwhile, on land, the longest living animal is the giant Galapagos (Chelonoidis nigra), which can live up to the age of 177. But deep-sea life seems to take place at a slower pace. The longest living mammal is the Bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) with a life span of about 211 years. Rockfish species can live up to 205 years.

Referring to the group of the longest living species, there must be the ocean-dwelling wormworm, in areas with hydrogen sulfide, methane and hydrocarbon-rich liquids. A number of pipeworm species, such as Lamellibrachia luymesi and Seepiophila jonesi, live up to 250 years, relying only on sulfide oxidizing bacteria for their nutritional needs.

Strange pipeworm species.

Usually, body size and ambient temperature are used to predict life expectancy in animals. Research based on such models shows that the mortality rate of the nematode worm is much lower than the initial estimate. Another idea about the theory of longevity, suggests that natural selection will favor slow aging individuals and reproduce in old age when there is no threat.

Durkin and his team investigated the Escarpia tubata, which lives in the Gulf of Mexico under a depth of 3,300 m. The researchers marked 6 E. laminata clusters in different locations and collected 356 tubular worms a year later. The team also looked at a number of other pipe worms that they measured for 15 years to compare growth rates.

On the left is the E. laminata tube worm in nature, on the right is E. laminata stained in the growth assessment experiment (Source: The Science of Nature).

After measuring the growth rate of tubular worms in each stage, researchers used data to build models that show annual growth and mortality to estimate their age. The results show that the nematode worm is the master at avoiding death, with only 0.67% of deaths every year.

The researchers also estimated that a 50-cm-long tubular worm lived about 116 years old, much larger than its relative with the same length in shallow water. With this, the team predicts that E. laminata can live for more than 250 years, longer than the other two pipeworms L. luymesi and S. jonesi. Durkin also added that due to possible errors in the calculation model, the real life of Escarpia laminata in natural can be higher.

The researchers say this result is complementary to the theory of longevity and provides new insights into the evolutionary history of organisms.

The study is published in The Science of Nature.