507-year-old clam Ming 'world's oldest creature'

A 507-YEAR-OLD clam discovered in a seabed near Iceland could help unlock the secrets to a long life, scientists say.

Ming, a 507-year-old clam, is the world's oldest creature. Picture: Bangor University

A 507-YEAR-OLD clam could help unlock the secrets to a long life, scientists say.

Dubbed Ming, the mollusc was discovered seven years ago on a seabed near Iceland and was initially thought to be an incredible 405-years-old.

But scientists have now confirmed that Ming is even older, The Daily Mail reports.

And they now hope that Ming's longevity will help them better understand the processes of ageing and how to maybe even slow it down.

"If, in Arctica islandica, evolution has created a model of successful resistance to the damage of ageing, it is possible that an investigation of the tissues of these real life Methuselahs might help us to understand the processes of ageing," said researcher Chris Richardson.

Not knowing how old the mollusc was when they first found it, the researchers from Bangor University decided to open its shell for analysis, killing Ming in the process.

By counting the number of rings visible on the inside shell of the mollusc, they initially calculated that Ming was 405-years-old.

But seven years on, the researchers admit they made a mistake.

'We got it wrong the first time and maybe we were a bit hasty publishing our findings back then,' ocean scientist Paul Butler from Bangor University told ScienceNordic.

'But we are absolutely certain that we've got the right age now.'

The mistake arose because the scientists couldn't clearly see all of Ming's inside growth rings.

So the Bangor scientists recalculated the age of Ming by counting the growth rings on the outside of the shell.