Washington, DC: A small cave salamander, dubbed “the human fish” because of its human-like skin tone, has broken the world’s record for longest-lived amphibian—a discovery, according to researchers, could unravel secrets of elixir of life.
Also called olm and Proteus, the salamander, which can live to over 100, is endangered, but reaches such advanced ages in zoos and protected environments.
Future studies on this amphibian might shed light on what promotes longevity in the animal kingdom.
“Among amphibians the human fish is clearly the most long-lived species,” Discovery News quoted lead author Yann Voituron as saying.
Voituron, a professor at Claude Bernard Lyon University, and his team calculated growth rates, generation times and the lifespan of olms living in a cave at Moulis, Saint-Girons, France.
Since the 1950s, conservationists have established a breeding program there for the threatened salamanders.
In addition to determining the lifespan of the cave salamanders, the researchers found that this species becomes sexually mature at around age 16 and lays, on average, 35 eggs every 12.5 years.
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dnaindia.com 27 July 2010 http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_longest-living-amphibians-salamanders-may-hold-secrets-to-elixir-of-life_1413158
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