The study also shows that Greenland shark females don’t reach sexual maturity until around 150 years old — suggesting that a century of heavy fishing could wipe out the entire species, says Bushnell. But climate change is a greater threat, says Aaron MacNeil, a marine biologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science near Townsville, Queensland.
Fascinating that the reproductive timeline can be so long. I'd always thought evolution was heavily biased in favor of rapid reproduction.
Yes, but even the blue whale, the largest animal ever existed (as far as we know), reaches sexual maturity after 5-10 years. Elephants need 10-13 years. Humans are roughly the same. An age for reaching puberty of ten times that, over a century, is a whole other definition of "long".
I'd always thought evolution was heavily biased in favor of rapid reproduction.
It's an arctic scavenger that grows both massive and very old without any natural predators worth mentioning. It doesn't make any sense for it to have a high reproductive rate.
Fascinating that the reproductive timeline can be so long. I'd always thought evolution was heavily biased in favor of rapid reproduction.