British marine biologists have found what may be the oldest living animal - that is, until they killed it.

A team of scientists from Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences have found a quahog clam, Arctica islandica, which was living and growing on the seabed in the cold waters off the north coast of Iceland for around 400 years. Only after researchers cut through its shell, which made it more of an ex-clam, and counted its growth rings did they realize how old it had been - between 405 and 410 years old.

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