A Greenland shark photographed in 2007 at Admiralty Inlet, Nunavut.
These large, slow-moving Arctic recluses can live up to 500 years.
The Greenland shark is a variety ofsleeper sharkand one of the largest shark species.
A Greenland shark photographed in 2007 at Admiralty Inlet, Nunavut. (Photo: Hemming1952 viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 4.0)
It stretches an impressive length of up to 23 feet and weighs in at about 1.5 tons.
It typically inhabits the chilly, deep waters of the Arctic, although it can migrate to other regions.
Despite being a fierce predator, it is quite slow-moving and enjoys a lazy scavenge.
The massive beasts are listed asvulnerable.
How does all this reproducing take so long?
Recent work has revealed thesharks' metabolismdoes not seem to slow in the same way as aging humans.
Enzyme activity preservers, suggesting they may be able to resist the slowing of aging.
