Tuesday 20 March 2018

Indestructible Creatures/Ocean Quahog



Well it is Tuesday a much cooler day at last which is nice, being Tuesday means it is indestructible creatures day and today's creature it the Ocean Quahog, heard of it.............me neither....................

This creature lives for a bloody long time longer then elephants or blue whales or even giant tortoises. In 2006 scientists collected an ocean quahog from the seabed near Iceland and named it Ming. To keep it fresh for studying they froze it, and it died. Later when they studied it, Ming turned out to be one of the oldest creatures ever known, Oops........................

When it's alive an Ocean Quahog has two shells with a hinge and a squishy mollusc living inside, it has growth rings a bit like the rings in a tree that can reveal how old they are. To count the markings properly, scientists have to cut through the shell and look at the patterns inside.

Their first attempt revealed that Ming was 405 years older, later on in 2013 using new methods it was revealed that Ming's true age was 507, now that is old.

So it could live for over 500 years but couldn't survive being frozen.

It was called Ming after the Ming dynasty which was between 1368-1644, which was when it would have been born.


15 comments:

  1. Hi Jo-Anne ... how fascinating to read about these Quahogs - never heard of them ... but am delighted to find out they exist ... cheers Hilary

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  2. Interesting Jo-Anne, there are so many things we don't know in this word until someone like yourself draws attention to it :)

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    1. Yes there are so many interesting creatures in the world

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  3. Hi, Jo-Anne!

    Thanks for telling me about the Ocean Quahog. I was familiar with the word Quahog because one of my favorite television series, the animated sitcom Family Guy, is set in the fictional city of Quahog, Rhode Island. However, until now, I didn't know what the term referred to. Think of the stories a 500 year old Quahog could tell! :)

    Thank you again for this educational post, Jo-Anne! There is someone I'd like you to meet and I will be introducing her on my blog this Sunday morning (U.S. time). You're invited, dear friend!

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    1. I will drop by on Sunday or should that read Monday or Saturday are you a day ahead or a day behind us, I don't know.

      I have watched Family Guy myself a funny show

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  4. WHAT an interesting fact here. I would not have known without your having written of it. What an awful shame they killed it.

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    1. Yes such a shame they killed if but really how many creatures can be frozen without being killed, you think they would have known freezing would kill it.

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  5. Wow! I had not read that. There are so many things we know nothing about.
    R

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  6. That is something I wonder how in the world they know that?

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  7. I may have cut down on some quahogs' life span, 'cause I happen to find them delish!

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  8. I didn't know that quohogs live that long! These are one of our favourite seafood!

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  9. Wow, that's pretty cool. I learned something....

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