Scientists discover Greenland sharks can see for centuries, debunking blindness myth
Scientists have debunked the long-standing myth that Greenland sharks are blind, clarifying that their longevity is their most notable trait. Research confirms these sharks can live for nearly 400 years, making them the longest-lived vertebrates known to science.
Why it matters
Understanding the biology of long-lived species provides critical insights into aging, cellular health, and evolutionary adaptation.
Greenland sharks entered popular science writing on the strength of one number, 400 years. Some individuals swimming in the North Atlantic today were alive during Isaac Newton's lifetime, born centuries before anyone thought to ask how old a shark could get. That figure alone would be enough to make the species a fixture of "strange but true" science coverage, alongside the immortal jellyfish and the bristlecone pine.What usually got attached to the longevity claim, almost as a footnote, was a second one: that the sharks spent those centuries essentially blind, their eyes clouded and colonised by a permanently attached parasite.
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