Metazoans Who Live Longer Than Jeanne Calment

Some metazoans outlive the Methuselah’s centuries while others live only few days, thereby justifying the interest in comparative longevityLongevity analysis. In usually short-livers’ samplings, humans become ‘comparative outliers’. To better understand the longevityLongevity-promoting factors, humans should be reconciled with species exceeding human longevity (SEHL)Species exceeding human longevity (SEHL). Among millions of metazoans, there are only 13 such species. SEHL comprise 4 fish species (Greenland sharkGreenland shark, rockfishRockfish, sturgeon and warty oreo), 3 bivalve mollusks (ocean quahogOcean quahog, freshwater pearl shellFreshwater pearl shells and geoduck clam), 3 marine sessile species with strong symbiosis with microorganisms (spongeSponges, coralCorals and tubeworm), a bowhead whaleBowhead whales, sea urchinSea urchins and the only one terrestrial species giant tortoise. All, or near all, SEHL: (i) are deep- and cold-water inhabitants; (ii) they lack the mortality increase and reproduction decrease in the advanced ages; (iii) often live in hypoxic-hypercapnic environments (HHEs)Hypoxic-hypercapnic environment; (iv) preserve the life-long cell replication and body growth capacity; (v) are hypometabolic, coupled with high resistance to anabiosis. However, to become a SEHL, it is not enough to live in deep-ocean cold water. The 507 years of ocean quahogsOcean quahog are associated with their burrowing into the bottom stand, coupled with extreme resistance to hypoxia and anabiosis. The phenomenal longevityLongevity of Greenland sharksGreenland shark (392 years) may be caused by a slowing-down of deamination via reamination, mitigated by a high concentration of trimethylaminooxide. Vestimentiferan tubewormsVestimentiferan tubeworms display a low growth rate due to fairly controlled proliferation/apoptosis and kept strong symbiosis with microorganisms, eventually achieving 300 years. Bowhead whalesBowhead whales live 211 years in HHEs and have protective adaptations against cancer and other age-related diseases. RockfishRockfish species show amazing variability in size, habitat and longevityLongevity. Their life span increases exponentially with the ocean depth and reaches 205 years. Sea urchinsSea urchins exhibit negative senescenceSenescence and can live 200 years without age-associated pathology. Freshwater pearl shellsFreshwater pearl shells, habituating 190 years in the pristine Arctic rivers, remain ice-frozen in the long Polar Night winters accompanied by severe famine and anoxia. The ‘longevityLongevity ikons’ giant tortoises, live at least 152 years or even more. Sturgeons with MLS of 152 years belong to an ancestry dating back hundreds of million years. Geoduck clams are the largest burrowing clams in the world with MLS of at least 168 years.