Imagine an animal being 10'000 years old

Biologists Susanne Gatti and Thomas Brey of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven (AWI) discovered a sponge in the antarctic ocean with an estimated age of 10'000 years.

The vase-shaped animal of the scolymastra joubini genus measures 2m in length and 1.7m in diameter. Animals of that genus have first been reported at 1916 by the french scientist Jean-Baptiste Charcot. He found that Scolymastra joubini has the lowest metabolism of all animal species.

With a maximal age of 5'000 years, the bristlecone pine has been considered to be the eldest living species of the world until the discovery of the age of the scolymastra joubini.

The estimated age of the sponge could be measured only just a few years ago due to lack of reliable measure methods for the age of sponges during the years before. The american scientist Paul Dayton measured the consumption of oxygen and the growth of the sponge during 20 years. The Sientist of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research assume, that the low growth rate and consumption of oxygen is only due to its enormous age. Therefore they estimated that specific animal to be 10'000 years old.

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