How Long Do Fish Fossils Live?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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coelacanth

What is the oldest fish still alive?

The oldest fish in the world is the

Greenland shark

, with a 392-year-old female specimen being the oldest ever discovered. With a lifespan of at least 272 years, Greenland sharks are now the longest-living vertebrates known on Earth, according to scientists.

Are fish living fossils?

Fishes are finned aquatic vertebrates, found abundantly in almost all bodies of water. As the first vertebrates (backboned animals) to evolve, they lack limbs. Fish-like animals first appeared all the way back in the Cambrian Period more than 500 million years ago.

What fish are considered living fossils?


Bichir are the only living fossil fish commonly kept as pets

. Bichir are bottom-dwelling freshwater fish native to western Africa. They are among the most primitive of the ray-finned fish, the dominant group of modern fish, which arose about 395 million years ago.

What fish lives up to 100 years?


The coelacanth

— a giant weird fish still around from dinosaur times — can live for 100 years, a new study found. These slow-moving, people-sized fish of the deep, nicknamed a “living fossil,” are the opposite of the live-fast, die-young mantra.

What was alive 400 million years ago?

Creatures recognizable as coelacanths go back to about 400 million years ago, and these

fleshy-finned fish

were the evolutionary cousins of lungfish and our own archaic forerunners—the very first vertebrates to walk on land were specialized lobe-finned fish related to the recently discovered Tiktaalik.

What fish were alive with dinosaurs?

Synopsis. Coelacanths, which have been around for 400 million years, were thought extinct until they were found alive in 1938 off South Africa.

The coelacanth

a giant weird fish still around from dinosaur times can live for 100 years, a new study found.

Did fish exist with dinosaurs?

Since the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago,

fish have evolved and diversified, leading to the wide variety of fish species we see today

. Sixty-six million years ago, it was a tough time to be a dinosaur (since they were, you know, all dying), but it was a great time to be a fish.

Is there a fish dinosaur?

Due to its massive size and the fact that its virtually unchanged in the fossil record for 23 million years, DeSouza says

the arapaima has become known as the “dinosaur fish.”

And while the species never actually lived during the time of the dinosaurs, its primeval appearance certainly brings the popular image of …

Are coelacanth Still Alive 2022?

Coelacanths May Live Nearly a Century, Much Longer Than Researchers Expected.

The giant, deep-sea fish coelacanths from millions of years ago is still alive today

, and can live for up to a century long.

How old are the first human fossils?

Scientists determine age of some of the oldest human bones Some of the oldest human remains ever unearthed are the Omo One bones found in Ethiopia. For decades, their precise age has been debated, but a new study argues they're

around 233,000 years old

.

What is the oldest extinct animal?

  • Horsetails. Age: over 300 million. …
  • Coelacanth. Age: c.400 million years. …
  • Elephant Shark. Age: c.400 million years. …
  • Horseshoe Crab. Age: 445 million years. …
  • Nautilus. Age: c.500 million years. …
  • Velvet Worms. Age: c.500 million years. …
  • Jellyfish. …
  • Sponges.

What did fish evolve from?

Fish may have evolved from

an animal similar to a coral-like sea squirt (a tunicate)

, whose larvae resemble early fish in important ways. The first ancestors of fish may have kept the larval form into adulthood (as some sea squirts do today), although this path cannot be proven.

What is the biggest extinct fish?

Enter

Leedsichthys problematicus

. The extinct fish—thought to be the largest on record—lived about 165 million years ago in Europe and South America. It grew to at least 16.5 meters in length and might have weighed 45 metric tons, which means it was larger even than today's whale shark.

How did coelacanth survive?

Like all fish, today's species of coelacanths

use gills to extract oxygen from the water they live in

. But millions of years ago, coelacanth ancestors probably breathed using the lung, the scientists concluded.

What animal can live for 11000 years?

Estimates of sponge longevity vary quite a bit, but are often in the thousands of years. One study in the journal Aging Research Reviews notes a

deep-sea sponge from the species Monorhaphis chuni

lived to be 11,000 years old. Yes, a sponge is an animal—and it has a remarkable life-span.

What animal can live up to 500 years?


Greenland Shark

(300-500 years)

These large Northern Atlantic sharks have the longest lifespan of all vertebrates, living up to 500 years.

How long can sharks live?

20 – 30 years

How old is the Earth?

4.543 billion years

How old is the human species?

While our ancestors have been around for about six million years,

the modern form of humans only evolved about 200,000 years ago

. Civilization as we know it is only about 6,000 years old, and industrialization started in the earnest only in the 1800s.

Did sharks exist before trees?

Fun fact of the day:

Sharks are older than trees

. The earliest species that we could classify as “tree,” the now-extinct Archaeopteris, lived around 350 million years ago, in forests where the Sahara desert is now.

What fish is older than dinosaurs?


Coelacanths

: Fish That Predates Dinosaurs, With History Dating Back To 420 Million Years, Caught Alive.

What was the first fish to walk on land?

The earliest fish potentially capable of walking on land is

Tiktaalik roseae

, a species of sarcopterygian that lived approximately 375 million years ago, during the late Devonian Period, in what is today the Canadian Arctic.

What dinosaur still lives today?

Other than birds, however, there is no scientific evidence that any dinosaurs, such as

Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor, Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, or Triceratops

, are still alive. These, and all other non-avian dinosaurs became extinct at least 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

How did crocodiles survive dinosaur extinction?

Crocodiles survived the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs

thanks to their ‘versatile' and ‘efficient' body shape

, that allowed them to cope with the enormous environmental changes triggered by the impact, according to new research. Crocodiles can thrive in or out of water and live in complete darkness.

What survived the dinosaur extinction?

Birds: Birds are the only dinosaurs to survive the mass extinction event 65 million years ago.

Frogs & Salamanders

: These seemingly delicate amphibians survived the extinction that wiped out larger animals. Lizards: These reptiles, distant relatives of dinosaurs, survived the extinction.

How did sharks survive the dinosaur extinction?

However, this extinction was offset by other lineages increasing over time. Sharks have survived many mass extinction during their presence of 450 million years on Earth. Scientists believe that

their ability to repair damaged DNA

has helped them survive over the years.

Diane Mitchell
Author
Diane Mitchell
Diane Mitchell is an animal lover and trainer with over 15 years of experience working with a variety of animals, including dogs, cats, birds, and horses. She has worked with leading animal welfare organizations. Diane is passionate about promoting responsible pet ownership and educating pet owners on the best practices for training and caring for their furry friends.