She likes to have her belly rubbed. Figs are one of her favorite treats.

September 19, 2023 6:20 PM

San Francisco has the world’s oldest aquarium fish. Now we know her age.
posted by brundlefly (20 comments total)

Australian lungfish are amazing creatures. They have the longest genome of any animal, and 14 times longer than ours. That said, we're not so different: in fact they are said to be our nearest living relatives in the fish world.

Here's a little video about Methuselah, which shows her getting those belly rubs she craves.
posted by senor biggles at 6:54 PM on September 19, 2023 [9 favorites]

That said, we're not so different: in fact they are said to be our nearest living relatives in the fish world.

Perhaps not a huge surprise, what with the lungs.
posted by atoxyl at 11:12 PM on September 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

What an It Girl! Absolutely the coolest broad in the city of San Francisco! They should do a remake of "Murder, She Wrote" with Methuselah solving aquarium crime!
posted by mostlymartha at 11:57 PM on September 19, 2023 [4 favorites]

Angela Lungsbury.
posted by brundlefly at 12:06 AM on September 20, 2023 [14 favorites]

As a child, whenever anyone in our family was taking too long to get ready, or get moving, or (insert things that shouldn't take too long) one of my parents would yell out some version of "C'mon Methuselah!" at the offending person (including the other parent, if applicable).

As an adult, I looked up the name Methuselah and thought "oh, they must mean cause a nearly-1000-year-old guy would probably move slow" but as a child of the 80s this line :

The aquarium began celebrating the fish’s longevity in the 1980s, when it was named after the biblical character Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather, who lived to 969 years old

...makes me think I am not the only child of the 80s whose parents made that joke, with the biblical reference being renewed to be about an old fish, just slowly chillin' and moving around.
posted by revmitcz at 12:20 AM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

That said, we're not so different: in fact they are said to be our nearest living relatives in the fish world.

Perhaps not a huge surprise, what with the lungs.

I'm surprised, I thought it would be another primate.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 4:15 AM on September 20, 2023

Primates are generally not fish; it’s practically in the definition. Assuming “in the fish world” means “among fish” rather than “in this world that has fish n it.”
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:05 AM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

How old? I am unable to read the article.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:59 AM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

the pope classified primates as fish back in the 1700s
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 6:22 AM on September 20, 2023 [5 favorites]

92 years old plus or minus eight years based on genetic testing. So could be 100.
posted by njohnson23 at 6:27 AM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

She's two double magnums! Also, belly rubs, yesssss.
posted by winesong at 7:36 AM on September 20, 2023

All this being said though, I do think it’s misguided of her to run for another term in congress.
posted by turbowombat at 9:08 AM on September 20, 2023 [18 favorites]

the pope classified primates as fish back in the 1700s

Are you sure you're not thinking of Capybaras, which are giant rodents, but ecclesiastically considered fish? Rasputina even wrote a banger of a track about the whole thing.
posted by FatherDagon at 10:45 AM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

no its primates
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 10:47 AM on September 20, 2023

They would similarly be the closest relative, in the fish world, of any other primate - and of reptiles, and birds, and so on. As I understand it some sort of lungfish is thought to have been the ancestor of all tetrapods. Which again makes narrative sense if you think about it but also seems to be backed up by the genetics.
posted by atoxyl at 12:37 PM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

(Especially given that some modern lungfish can hibernate for years out of water, though the Australian kind are apparently not adapted to fully drying out).
posted by atoxyl at 12:54 PM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Revmitcz, in the 60s my grandparents would refer to particularly old people as "old as Methuselah."
posted by 3.2.3 at 1:22 PM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Primates are generally not fish; it’s practically in the definition.

Won't somebody please think of the cladistics!

My nearest living relatives in the fish world are my mom and my daughter, FWIW.
posted by polecat at 2:04 PM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

When friends of mine who are younger than me have birthdays I like to call them Methuselah.
posted by brundlefly at 3:57 PM on September 20, 2023

The oldest fish at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, an Australian lungfish named Granddad, passed away recently. He was brought in for the 1933 World Expo (one of the stars on the Chicago flag symbolizes this event BTW) when he was already fully grown, so the estimate was he was around 10-15 years old already.

Which means he was probably around 100 when he passed. Now these fish are endangered, so are not allowed to be exported out of Australia. But to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Shedd, the Australian Govt gifted 4 youn-uns around 1998.

These are essentially living fossils, as the oldest of them are from around 200 million years ago. There's also an African Cousin of the Lungfish found in the Zambesi region. Must have had a common ancestor when the landmasses were conjoined.
posted by indianbadger1 at 1:07 PM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]