
Paper describes new technique for assessing whale shark age
A paper published in the Frontiers in Marine Science Journal outlines an innovative new approach to aging whale sharks (Rhincodon typus). Using the increase of Carbon 14 that occurred after the nuclear bomb tests that started in the late 1940s as a datum, the technique can use the known decay curve of the radioactive isotope to provide an accurate age. So far, the results suggest that sharks are much more long-lived than was previously thought.