This Australian Lungfish Is The Oldest Living Aquarium Fish. Guess Its Name

The Australian lungfish is a threatened species, and is believed to be the evolutionary link between fish and amphibians.

Australian lungfish Methuselah, who resides at the California Academy of Sciences' Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco | Photo: Getty

New Delhi: A 4-foot-long Australian lungfish has been living out of aquariums for over 80 years now in San Francisco. It is now believed to be the world’s oldest living aquarium fish, according to a report in the Associated Press.

The fish was named Methuselah, after the Biblical character by the same name who was Noah’s grandfather and said to have lived 969 years, the report said.

It was in 1938 that Methuselah was brought to the San Francisco museum from Australia.

It is about 90 years old and has no known living peers, biologists at the California Academy of Sciences believe, according to the report.

Allan Jan, the fish’s keeper and senior biologist at the Academy, said Methuselah is now the oldest “by default”. 

An older Australian lungfish, named Granddad, died in 2017 at the age of 95 at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

‘Missing Link’ Between Terrestrial And Aquatic Animals

Methuselah, which weighs 18.1 kilogram, likes to eat fresh figs and get belly rubs, and has a “mellow” personality, the AP report said. 

And it is quite used to media attention. Methuselah made an appearance in the San Francisco Chronicle as early as in 1947. “These strange creatures — with green scales looking like fresh artichoke leaves — are known to scientists as a possible ‘missing link’ between terrestrial and aquatic animals,” AP quoted the report as saying.  

Australian lungfish is a primitive species with lungs and gills.

Biologists believe it’s difficult to determine the sex of this species without a blood draw, which is risky, but Methuselah’s caretakers believe it is female, the report said. It added that the California Academy of Sciences plans to send a sample of its fin to researchers in Australia for them to try and confirm the sex and exact age of the fish.

Quoting Jan, the report said the academy has two other Australian lungfish believed to be in their 40s or 50s.

The Australian lungfish, now a threatened species, can no longer be exported from the waters Down Under.