This week I did the unthinkable: I got married. A very short and spontaneous trip to the seaside followed. So here I was on the shore of the Black Sea on a casual Friday with plenty of research material for the book on comparative gerontology. Yes, I always have good intentions when going on holiday.
The water was cold to touch, but I was determined to make it through and swim in the salty breeze.
Once back on the shore, still thinking about the last paper on Arctica islandica – the longest-living non-colonial animal known to science – I noticed the plenitude of seashells on the beach.
I counted the growth rings from a couple of them while shivering from the cold water: the number varied between 4 and 40. Each growth ring may represent a year of life or a season or any other environmental variation.
Which brought me to the next point: why is Arctica islandica, the longest-living non-colonial animal, living in the colder waters?
Who knows how many species display negligible senescence and we have no idea about it because nobody studies them.
Anca Ioviţă is the author of Eat Less Live Longer: Your Practical Guide to Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition available on Amazon and several other places. If you enjoyed this article, don’t forget to sign up to receive updates on her second book regarding a comparative biography of aging from the simplest to the most complex organisms known.
