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January 9, 2026<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n These Bizarre, Centuries-Old Sharks May Have a Hidden Longevity Superpower<\/p>\n The very, very long-lived Greenland sharks were long thought to be practically blind. But a new study finds that they not only can see but also maintain their vision into old age<\/p>\n By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n Photo by: Martin Zwick\/REDA\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n Greenland sharks are a biological anomaly. The animals can grow to more than 20 feet long, weigh more than a ton and can live for nearly 400 years, making the species the longest-living vertebrate on the planet\u2014a fact that could help unlock secrets to enhancing longevity.<\/p>\n And now, in a study published this week in Nature Communications, scientists dial in to one of the Greenland shark\u2019s more remarkable features: it has functioning eyes and, more remarkably, maintains its vision well into senescence.<\/p>\n Biologists have long believed these sharks to be practically blind, in part because of their tendency to attract parasites that attack and lodge themselves inside the sharks\u2019 corneas. But this work challenges that belief, the researchers write, showing that even centuries-old Greenland sharks retain a visual system \u201cwell-adapted for life in dim light.\u201d<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n \u201cEvolutionarily speaking, you don\u2019t keep the organ that you don\u2019t need,\u201d said Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk, an associate professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of California, Irvine, and a co-author of the paper, in a statement. \u201cAfter watching many videos, I realized this animal is moving its eyeball toward the light.\u201d<\/p>\n Skowronska-Krawczyk and her colleagues analyzed samples taken from sharks that were more than a century old and found no obvious signs of retinal degeneration, which, she notes, is a \u201cremarkable\u201d finding, considering their advanced age.<\/p>\n The researchers say the work offers a jumping off point for future research into how the sharks preserve their vision over such long periods of time, work that could eventually inform studies of age-related vision loss in humans\u2014and how it might be prevented.<\/p>\n \u201cNot a lot of people are working on sharks, especially shark vision,\u201d said Emily Tom, a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Irvine, who is also a co-author of the study, in the same statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can learn so much about vision and longevity from long-lived species like the Greenland shark,\u201d Tom said.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. 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I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 9, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm These Bizarre, Centuries-Old Sharks May Have a Hidden Longevity Superpower The very, very long-lived Greenland sharks were long thought to be practically blind. But a new study finds that they not only can see but also maintain their vision into old age By Jackie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[7167,9287,6919,3435,4054,6333,9538],"class_list":{"0":"post-41027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-bizarre","9":"tag-centuriesold","10":"tag-greenland","11":"tag-hidden","12":"tag-longevity","13":"tag-sharks","14":"tag-superpower"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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