11 Long-Living Animals. Mother Nature Is Very Gentle with Them!

Some animals are true record-holders. They barely grow old and as for longevity they are genuine masters!

This small jellyfish dwells in the waters of the Pacific Ocean and along the coast of Japan, Florida, Spain and Italy. The larva turns into a polyp and then the jellyfish forms. It’s small and transparent. It has a unique ability to replace old cells with new ones. Moreover, it can revert from the mature stage to the immature one, reverting in this way its life cycle. This could be in fact repeated an infinite number of times, making Turritopsis dohrnii in this way an immortal creature.

This species of sponge lives in the waters of the Antarctic Ocean at 100 – 2,000 meters below the surface in very cold temperatures and constant pressure. This slows down their growth rate and other biological processes.

Another specimen of Antarctic sponge. It was found in 1872.

This species of clam can be found in waters of the north Atlantic Ocean. It can be up to 12 cm long and its aging process has never been detected. The oldest specimen found in 2006 near the coast of Iceland was 507 years old. It was called Ming due to the fact that it came to this world during the reign of the Ming dynasty.

This is the oldest living vertebrate. Its natural habitats include the White Sea, the Antarctic Ocean, the north Atlantic Ocean and Greenland's coast waters. It can be up to 6 meters long. It reaches sexual maturity at the age of 150 years. It is a very slow swimmer, reaching the velocity of up to 2.5 km per hour.

This whale lives in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters. The females can be even 20 meters long. A new-born bowhead whale is 4 meters long and weighs a tone. They are also slow swimmers, travelling at 5 – 7 kilometers per hour.

This red fish has got a characteristic fin that looks like a punk hairstyle. It lives in the Pacific Ocean, usually at deep levels.

These sea creatures are usually spherical. They have no limbs and dwell on sea floor (some of them are even found on the bottom of ocean trenches. Their bodies are covered with spikes and there are species that have got organs capable of piercing skin and pumping in the venom.

Its natural habitat is the Galapagos islands. The largest tortoise of this kind ever found was 400 kilos heavy. In 1835 Karol Darwin brought to London three Galapagos tortoises. One of them was Harriet which eventually was taken to Australia. She lived to the age of 176 years passing away in 2006.

This fish lives in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean.

It comes from the Aldabra islands in the Seychelles. Its average shell length in 120 cm. It is believed that Jonathan is the largest land animal living today. It hatched out approximately in 1832 and currently it is in Saint Helena. Although its blind and can't smell a thing, it hears perfectly.