By Andria Borba

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SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Just beyond the jellyfish at the Steinhart Aquarium inside the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park sits — or rather, swims — Methuselah.

In the Bible, Noah’s grandfather Methuselah was said to have lived to be 969 years old. Methuselah the fish is not quite that ancient, but biologists at the California Academy of Sciences believe it is about 90 years old, with no known living peers.

Methuselah is a 4-foot-long, 40-pound Australian lungfish.

She — possibly he; biologists aren’t exactly sure — is believed to be the oldest Australian lungfish in captivity.

Methuselah arrived in San Francisco in 1938, when it’s believed she was five years old. She lives a very mellow life in slow-moving 70 degree water; a bit of a lazy river.

“She needs a little bit of space, calm water and nice diet,” said curator Charles Delbeek.

As for her diet, a fish of her distinguished age has distinct preferences.

“Earthworms, romaine lettuce and figs. She really likes sweet figs when they’re in season. She won’t eat preserved ones or frozen ones,” Delbeek told KPIX.

For the record, she also likes belly rubs.

If you’re thinking that her tank looks small, rest assured that’s just the way she likes it. A few years ago, biologists tried to move her to a larger tank with two other Australian Lungfish — named Small and Medium — and Methuselah wasn’t a fan.

“When she was moved into there, she did not display good behaviors. We decided at her age, it was better not to move her,” said Delbeek.

Researchers in Australia are trying to divine Methuselah’s exact age through DNA testing.

“We actually take a very small cutting, maybe less than one square millimeter of the actual fin. It’s a painless procedure — preserve that in alcohol and then it gets shipped to Australia for testing,” explained Delbeek.

Though, at her age, a lady or gentleman never tells.

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SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Just beyond the jellyfish at the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park sits — or rather swims — Methuselah.

In the Bible, Noah’s grandfather Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. Methuselah the fish isn’t quite that old, but biologists from the California Academy of Sciences believe it’s about 90 years old and has no known living counterparts.

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Methuselah is a 4 foot long, 40 pound Australian lungfish.

Senior biologist Allan Jan feeds Methuselah, a 4-foot-long, 40-pound Australian lungfish brought to the California Academy of Sciences from Australia in 1938, in his tank in San Francisco, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff chiu)

You – possibly him; Biologists aren’t entirely sure – it’s thought to be the oldest captive Australian lungfish.

Methuselah arrived in San Francisco in 1938, when she was believed to be five years old. She lives a very gentle life in slow flowing 70 degree water; a bit like a lazy river.

“She needs a bit of space, calm water and a good diet,” said curator Charles Delbeek.

As for their diet, a fish of their advanced age has distinct preferences.

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“Earthworms, romaine lettuce and figs. She really likes sweet figs when they are in season. She doesn’t eat canned or frozen ones,” Delbeek told KPIX.

For the record, she also likes tummy rubs.

If you think her tank looks small, rest assured she likes it just the way it is. A few years ago biologists tried to put them in a larger tank with two other Australian lungfish – named Small and Medium – and Methuselah wasn’t a fan.

“When she was drafted there, she didn’t show good behavior. We decided at her age that it was better not to move her,” said Delbeek.

Researchers in Australia are trying to guess Methuselah’s exact age through DNA testing.

“We actually take a very small section, maybe less than a square millimeter of the actual fin. It’s a painless procedure – keep that in alcohol and then it’s shipped to Australia for testing,” explained Delbeek.

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But at her age a lady or a gentleman never says anything.

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The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco believes it has the world’s oldest living fish in an Aquarium.

The fish is an Australian lungfish, and it lives in a glass container in a museum. The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper first wrote about the fish in 1947. The story said the fish looked “strange” and might have been an example of the link between animals that lived in the ocean and those that lived on land.

The fish is named Methuselah after a person said to have lived 969 years in the Bible. While she is not that old, biologists at the aquarium think the fish is about 90 years old. They believe it is the oldest living example of a lungfish in an aquarium.

Until a few years ago, the oldest Australian lungfish was at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. But that fish, named Granddad, died in 2017 at the age of 95.

“By default,” said biologist Allan Jan, “Methuselah is the oldest.”

Jan looks after the fish in San Francisco. He believes the fish is female but does not know for sure. The aquarium plans to take a very small part of the fish’s fine and send it to scientists in Australia. The scientists will try to confirm the fish’s age and sex.

Jan said Methuselah likes getting rubbed on her back. He compared her to an “underwater puppy” or young dog. She is a little longer than one meter and weighs about 20 kilograms.

Methuselah, a 4-foot-long, 40-pound Australian lungfish that was brought to the California Academy of Sciences in 1938 from Australia, swims in its tank in San Francisco, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu )

Jeanette Peach is a spokeswoman for the aquarium. She said the fish enjoys eating fresh figs, a type of fruit. “She won’t eat them when they’re frozen,” Peach said.

The aquarium has two other Australian lungfish. Jan said they are thinking to be in their 40s or 50s.

the species is now threatened and can no longer be exported from Australian waters. So, getting another lungfish after Methuselah is not likely.

“We just give her the best possible care we can provide, and hopefully she thrills,” Jan said.

I’m Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by the Associated Press.

Does your country have some old animals or fish? What kind are they? Write to us in the Comments Section and visit our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

Aquarium– n. a glass or plastic container in which fish and other water animals and plants can live

default – n. used to describe something that happens or is done when nothing else has been done or can be done — usually used in the phrase by default

fine– n. a thin flat part that sticks out from the body of a fish and is used in moving or guiding the fish through water

species – n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants : a group of related animals or plants that is smaller than a genus

drive – v. to grow or develop successfully

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The name of the lungfish is Methuselah, which comes from the Bible.

Methusalah was Noah’s grandfather and lived 969 years.

This Methusalah is considered “she” and is at least 90 years old.

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The academy will send a tiny sample of their fin to researchers in Australia who will try to find out its exact age.

“She’s basically just a big pooch,” said aquarium curator Charles Delbeek.

“She’s very gentle, she moves very slowly, but if you want to be fast, you can. You can jump out of this tank and that’s why we have a guard around it, ”he explained.

Methusalah weighs about 24 pounds.

Perhaps a more mature palate comes with their age? She enjoys figs, but only when they are fresh, not frozen and thawed.

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WITHEcological facilities offer people the rare opportunity to see some of the most unique and often endangered wildlife in the world. Large exhibits that showcase charismatic mammals – reticulated giraffes, African elephants, jaguars, great apes, whales (although luckily this is changing), etc. – are usually the fauna we synonymous with these wildlife parks. But … what if I told you that San Francisco’s very own California Academy of Sciences is home to not only the city’s oldest aquarium fish, but probably the entire country?

Meet Methusalah: the Australian lungfish over 90 years old that came to San Francisco on a steamer from Queensland, Australia in 1938.

On Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle published a glorious profile on the magnetic fish that actually uses both its primitive lungs and gills to store oxygen. (As the newspaper noted, the name “Methuselah” is a Biblical reference to Noah’s grandfather, who lived to be 969; the fish is now four feet long and weighs about 40 pounds, and is likely to keep growing [as most fish do the rest of their lives; they’re what we call animals without “predetermined growth” in biology]; she likes fruit snacks and abdominal massages.)

And what is equally fascinating about Methusalah’s own San Francisco story is the evolutionary biology of the species to which it belongs.

Australian lungfish – also known as “Queensland lungfish” due to their naturally occurring distribution in slow-flowing basins and river systems in southeast Queensland – are among the oldest living fish species known to science, with a few examples such as Methusalah living 90 or more Years. It is believed that the longest-lived Australian lungfish must be a centenarian. (Fuck our blue zones, am I right?)

They also belong to only one of six living lungfish species in the world and are the only surviving member of the genus Neoceratodontidae. Four species of the genus Protopterus (animals of the family Protopteridae) occur in Africa; one species, Lepidosiren paradoxa (the only species in the Lepidosirenidae family) occurs in South America; The Australian lungfish is the only species in the Ceratodontidae family – and is also one of the stockiest of all known lungfish.

How did these fish get their primitive lung system, which is almost identical in function and structure to that of amphibians? They have got rid of their swim bladder, which is why lungfish have pectoral and ventral fins and a single unpaired caudal fin in place of the dorsal fin, which look slightly nifty and mirror rudimentary limbs.

Because, yes: Lungfish are just as well suited to migrating through swampy wetlands as they are to gliding through the shallow, slow-moving aquatic habitats in which they can be found.

It is not known exactly how old the species itself is. However, fossil records of examples from this group have been dated back 380 million years, to about the time the higher vertebrate classes appeared on the planet – a full 170 million years before the first mammals are believed to have migrated. In addition, lungfish fossils have almost identical anatomies to those found today, suggesting that they have existed largely unchanged for well over 100 million years.

Lungfish are not just primitive; They are among the oldest living vertebrates on this space rock.

But because humans are assholes, many of the lungfish species still alive, including the Australian lungfish, are “threatened” according to reports from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). According to the IUCN, some are even “endangered”, such as the Australian lungfish. All of them are currently facing human-made habitat loss and increasing threats to their riparian areas due to the climate crisis.

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Next time you’re looking for some rainy day activity, pay a visit to Methusalah. And implore whatever higher power you choose to honor that human greed does not deprive future generations of the chance to see members of their species via belly-stroking.

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