Clam, 405, is oldest animal ever
It has been christened Ming and it's officially the oldest animal to have ever lived.
A British scientific team discovered the 405-year-old clam, named after the Chinese dynasty and not the former Liberal Democrat leader, at the bottom of the ocean, and hope its longevity will reveal the secrets of ageing.
So significant is the find that Help The Aged have awarded a £40,000 grant to the team to investigate how the molusc
survived over the centuries
The record-breaking shellfish, 31 years older than the previous oldest animal, another clam, was caught last year when scientists from the Bangor University School of Ocean Sciences were dredging the seabed north of Iceland.
true age had been established Ming was already dead
3.4in clam from its shell which like trees has a layer or ring of growth for every year that the animal has been alive
Each year a layer as thin as 0.1mm is laid
clipped from: www.telegraph.co.uk 