Why the Oldest Fish in the World Lives in a Desert
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- The longest-living group of freshwater fish has been discovered... in a desert. Thanks to humans stocking artificial lakes, and to some awesome citizen scientists, we've learned that buffalofish can easily live to a hundred years old.
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Sources:
nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/facts...
nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/facts...
nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/facts...
www.nature.com/articles/s4159...
www.nature.com/articles/s4159...
Image Sources:
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/il...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/il...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.nature.com/articles/s4159...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/il...
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
Science: "Why these fishies don't breed?"
Fishes: "We immortal bro. We don't need no bebbies!"
'Bebbies'? I see you're a man of culture (someone who watches Ze Frank videos) as well.
@@irighterotica I figured there's a fair number of butt scientists bridging the gap
Like, yeah, why do they think the stress level is so low on the fish population?
The adults may be so good at eating the babies that they rarely survive.
Dave!!!
When I think long-lived, I hope and think of Hank Green.
He seems to hold up pretty well, so things look good.
@@nemis234he’s the most badass person I’ve ever seen in the way he handles his diagnosis. He took his curse of cancer and single-handedly turned it into pure knowledge for us all. He is a national treasure and he deserves all the good this world has to offer. Hank if you’re seeing this, we love you!!
Amen
Seriously
Cancer says otherwise
When you think "long-lived", you think of tortoises, redwood trees and David Attenborough... that got me! 🤣🤣🤣
Hank, don't jinx it please!
@@chillsahoy2640yeah. I know human is bad at trying to not make another species extinct but not the tortoise or the redwood tree
1. Yang Chen-Ning (1922-Oct-01) is 102 years old (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Chen-Ning)
2. Robert Kuok (1923-Oct-06) is 101 years old (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kuok)
3. Jimmy Carter (1924-Oct-01) is 100 years old (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter)
4. Mahathir Mohamad (1925-Jul-10) is 99 years old (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahathir_Mohamad)
5. David Attenborough (1926-May-08) is 98 years old (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Attenborough)
6. Desmond Morris (1928-Jan-24) is 96 years old (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Morris)
7. James Watson (1928-Apr-06) is 96 years old (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watson)
8. Li Ka-shing (1928-Jun-13) is 96 years old (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ka-shing)
9. Noam Chomsky (1928-Dec-07) is 96 years old (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky)
10. James Hong (1929-Feb-22) is 95 years old (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hong)
Bruh David Attenborough
1. Yang Chen-Ning (1922-Oct-01) is 102 years old
2. Robert Kuok (1923-Oct-06) is 101 years old
3. Jimmy Carter (1924-Oct-01) is 100 years old
4. Mahathir Mohamad (1925-Jul-10) is 99 years old
5. David Attenborough (1926-May-08) is 98 years old
6. Desmond Morris (1928-Jan-24) is 96 years old
7. James Watson (1928-Apr-06) is 96 years old
8. Li Ka-shing (1928-Jun-13) is 96 years old
9. Noam Chomsky (1928-Dec-07) is 96 years old
10. James Hong (1929-Feb-22) is 95 years old
I wonder how the conditions of the lake have changed in the last 40 years since, presumably, the last time they did spawn?
I know the buffalo around were I live love to spawn in flood plains so maybe that is a requirement for them to spawn
I’m thinking what if food pressures push them to spawn less. It’d be like population control since the group doesn’t seem to be nerfed by age and lack of younger fish would mean less competition.
Maybe When the babies hatch its their food supply for the coming year @@drakesmith471
In my experience with spearfishing a few of these they require a seasonal change in water temperature to trigger spawning.
I’m going to guess they are still spawning, but a predator species introduced in the last 40 years is consuming the fry but cannot eat the fully grown buffalo fish.
As someone who's done otolith readings, I can only imagine how tedious it has to be for a fish of that age.
It's true. Being dissected is very tedious for the fish
Not really though? If they're THAT old they would have pretty obvious markers from nuclear events which you could easily use to extrapolate a deposition rate.
I wonder if the fish seemingly not reproducing is part of the reason they live so long. Maybe their biology is like " yo there are no kids around need to stick around until that changes". Reminds me of how some octopi have kids and are just like peace out and promptly die.
*octopuses
@@TheRealSkeletor , *octopodes
@@SgtSupaman Regular plurals are usually preferred outside of highly specialized contexts. However, "octopi" is always wrong.
Octopi, octopodes, octopuses, they're all in English dictionaries. They're all correct.
@@rdreher7380 , I brought up the weird one as a joke. As @BruceNJeffAreMyFlies said, all three are accepted as correct plural forms of octopus. None of them are really more correct than the others.
I wonder if they aren't breeding because they aren't getting the cold spell of winter like the Great Lakes region gets. A lot of our fish rely on that to spawn come spring when the water warms up.
@Ashley-vg8fv;
I think that you might have hit on something... Goldfish seem to spawn at a time determined by temperature change, not a particular date; in our pond, we see that effect when there's a couple of "bumps" in temperature of the pond, so that they spawn in early spring, when the temperature goes up for a week, but drops again, then again when true summer starts, and even if we have a 'cold spell' for a week, then temperature goes up again... These buffalo fish look like a carp family fish, so...
They are (or were, at least) common down into southern Arkansas and north Louisiana, so I doubt it. Buffalo fish are quite good fried in cornmeal batter and are definitely a thing down there
@@lohikarhu734 They are not a carp family fish they are their own separate family of fish that evolved on a separate continent
it brings me so much joy seeing how good Hank looks
I thought the same thing
Why what happened?
@@rootbeer4888 he's in remission, he has cancer
Man it is weird having a SciShow video about something so close to home, as a kid I went fishing at Apache lake at least once a year. Never caught anything besides trout, but it is neat to see it played a big part in research of those fish
I was thinking the same thing, besides the fishing there annually part.
It may not be as sexy as discovering a comet but it is still valuable work. It's great when plain, old citizens can help out with real scientific research.
As a fisherman and biologist academically, this is as sexy as it gets
Do you routinely associate finding comets as sexy? I sure don't.
In fact I think finding out something like this is more interesting. Could lead to all sorts of medical possibilities.
I guess finding a comets that could annihilate us would be something. Especially if you got to name it after an ex or mother in law. (Or just someone you hate.)
More sexy than a comet for me. Immortal fish elders!!
Finding a comet is "sexy"?! What???
@@koharumi1 If you are an amateur astronomer it is.
The worst part about the overfishing in their native range is that it’s often bow fishermen killing what they think are invasive carp so they DONT EVEN EAT THEM
I despise bowfishing. At a local low head dam and popular fishing spot someone shot a dozen or so gar and left them floating and dying.
@@tn_bluestem any fishing or hunting that results in wanton waste of game animals is a crime in any state or territory of the United States. Comes with a hefty fine and often the stripping of outdoor privileges. If you see that again please contact your local conservation officer.
the hell, i'm struggling to even comprehend how could you mix those up. people need to be educated in specie recognition more when they engage with stuff like that
I think bowfishing could be sporting but it often isn't done that way. Buffalo taste pretty good, especially when someone makes fish patties with them.
It's unfortunate but blame the damn invasive carp.
It's always thrilling to see a video about a location you're familiar with!
Lake Roosevelt has Buffalo fish... And also a pair of glasses I lost there.
Correction: Lake Roosevelt has Buffalo fish, one of whom can see VERY well thanks to you!
@@DeinosDinoshey, the lake near my house has a fish with a new identity or a crime record for identity theft after I accidentally dropped my license in there while ice fishing LOL
That 2:20 quote about older specimens having better immune function and lower stress levels than youngsters really hit me where I live.
It hit me in my bank account
There's a story about deep sea fish (orange roughy) that were picked out as prey by fishery after having depleted all their other catch. The population was destroyed within years, and only then did they find out that the fish were extremely long lived, so were extremely slow to replenish their population. They were up to 148 years old, took 32 years to mature)
That’s unfortunately a common occurrence among ocean rockfish like the roughy. The same has happened with local species in the Puget sound. People didn’t know until they killed them off.
At least those people ate them and not just kill them for fun like the bow fishermans in USA.
@@mihaiilie8808 most hunters in the US are the absolute worst kind.
Trophy hunting should be banned, as well.
“Or floating at the top of your home aquarium… ya know, if you’re bad at fishkeeping.”
Bold words from the man who inspired my fishkeeping hobby (along with James and the microcosmos crew).
When I was 6 or 7 I caught a buffalo carp that was almost 4 feet long, which was almost as tall as i was! It was one of the first times i went fishing, so that totally ruined fishing for me for life, every other time catching small fish was so boring compared to the fight and struggle that thing gave me.
The *Greenland shark* _(Somniosus microcephalus)_ is estimated to live to an astonishing 250-500 years, making it the longest lived vertebrate organism. It achieves this by living in slow-motion, with an extremely sluggish metabolic rate (it gestates its young for a stunning est. 8-18 years).
Its eyes sadly tend to be prone to infection by a rather nasty crustacean parasite - often rendering it blind...
They don't really need their eyes in the cold, deep arctic waters
As a citizen scientist, this message makes me feel so validated 😁
Thanks so much for this video. That first picture you showed when introducing the Buffalofish, is actually a common carp on top (and a Buffalofish on bottom). You can see the barbells on the sides of the common cap’s mouth. I’m not sure about the fish at 3 o’clock. Just thought you would be interested to know. Loved the video!
Thank you I was confused. I live in the Midwest and I'm not a avid fisherman but that looked like a regular old carp
I noticed that too
0:29 do you mean this image?
@@geeksdo1tbetter no, that is the thumbnail for the video I believe. It was the first image during the video.
Greenland sharks???
They dont got calcified bones
I've lived in Phoenix since 1976. I've visited those lakes many times.
But, WOAH! I've never known about those fish.
Thanks Hank.
Super cool. I was thinking the oldest fish would be the lake sturgeon, but cool to learn about the buffalo fish. Another cool fish you could talk about is the Coelacanth
Fisher people are often very good citizen scientists!
One time when I was little my dad caught a fish with a tag that told him to contact the fish and wildlife service to tell them where he caught it and he did and this sort of thing teaches scientists a lot about fish migration.
Now I'm an adult and in college studying ecology and I had an internship looking at culverts to see how much of a barrier to fish migration. (Every day when we were in the water, locals would come over and ask us if we caught anything lol😂)
Fisher people tend to really know their stuff so scientists can ask them a lot of questions about the behavior of fish.
I think this is probably true for hunters, but there are fewer of them in most areas because there are higher barriers to entry for hunting.
I'm looking for jobs in conservation and there are a lot of organizations which were founded by hunters. Ducks unlimited is an example which is an organization that protects wetlands and it was founded by hunters who noticed fewer and fewer game birds as wetlands were being destroyed.
I know a lot of people in my major are vegetarian and don't like hunters or fishers but they tend to be very good conservationists because they have such an intimate relationship with the game and thus with wildlife.
My first thought on why there might not be any younger fish is perhaps maybe their dietary needs are different from older Buffalo fish and perhaps said need can no longer be sustained in the lake, but I’m also not really much knowledgeable on Buffalo fish
I used to catch buffalo fish when I lived on the Alabama River. Without a doubt the best tasting freshwater fish I have ever eaten from coast to coast from Canada to Mexico
Shhhhhh
I prefer carp
Way to get em extinct 😅
Filet or nuggets?
@@justinsane7128 Both are terrible prep methods for this type of fish
My uncle is a fishery officer & he mentions that carp dont spawn with each other of the same water body. They will spawn with other carps from other water body. Like two ponds for example.
I caught a Buffalo Carp on the Mississippi river about 40 years ago and it was about 3' long. I wonder how old it was since the fish in this video didn't look as big.
These fish: Less stressed as they age.
They're moisturized, relaxed, staying in their lane and living their best lives.
So many mysteries here! Great video!
Very interesting, caught a 10 pound one of these at a marina once. It had a thick slime coat that had a horrible odor. It also taught me its one of the only carp species in the U.S that targets live fish species because I was using a spinner lure mimicking a injured baitfish. At the time I didn't know Buffalo Carp were opportunistic feeders and can eat live fish. I wonder how old that fish was looking back at it.
Yooooo AZ represent!! I love watching things and getting places referenced that I have actually been to many times
Love the channel. Love the stories. This one was has of my favourite scientific ’WTF’ moments. Thanks for sharing!
David Attenborough indeed.
When you said "oldest fish" I thought you meant that the species itself has existed since ancient times, not LITERALLY 80 years old lol XD
Wow! This is such an interesting case and maybe delving more into this may help humans live longer! ❤
“antarctic skid marks” this is the funniest way of doing research I have ever heard oh my god
greenland sharks: "I'm about to end this fish's whole career"
Great content love the Theodore Roosevelt opening.
Excellent presentation
True reason. The fish just dont really dig all that humidity you usually find in water
👍⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐it brings me so much joy seeing how good you look!!! ❤❤❤
Long lived like David Attenborough? Would love Sir David to do a guest spot on SciShow
your hair is growing back. i am so happy.
Hi Scishow, been watching you for like a decade, love the show. I live in central Minnesota, where big mouth Buffalo are native, and they are not endangered or overfished. I honestly haven’t ever met an angler that goes after them, I’ve heard of them, but there’s not many. I think a lot of people don’t even know they exist because they aren’t a popular game species like walleye, pike, bass, and panfish.
Nature: Here may lay the secret for immortality
Fisherman: Oh yea I will eat them all
Natural way and spiritual brahmacharya(celibacy) practice are not so different from each other they are just divided by modernhumans.
In addition to the fish, I once drove by Apache Lake during the yearly tarantula migration. I saw hundreds!
wow this is some new animal info i've never heard of
I grew up fishing the Great Lakes and know of no one that would keep a buffalo fish.
According to Wikipedia it wasn’t until 1959 that the dam was named after Roosevelt (about 40 years after he died) so he didn’t name it after himself.
Great caption
There is a species of shark that can live up to 400 years. Meaning some of them have been swimming in the ocean before the declaration of independence was signed
Don't carp like koi live also live that long?
Buffalo fish are carp
@@robertstone9988 Figures they look like carp, anyways what i meant that most carp live a long time, i think there are some 200 year old koi or close to that
@@CMZneu cold deep water sharks live for ever as well. 6 gill and Greenland sharks can be over 100. I know a private pay lake that has a channel cat named scar face that's been caught several times over the last 25 years so it's as least that old. Last time some one caught him was last summer and he/she was 55 lbs.
@@robertstone9988 You are woefully under representing Greenland sharks. Unless I am unaware of something new, greenland sharks are said to be able to live over 500 years
@@Gongall Yep lol
7.85 million subscribers descending on Apache lake and donating the whole of the buffalo fish population to science
I understand the need to harvest the individual fishes for us to know their age for conservation purposes but it also feels unfair and a bit ironic to kill these old fish that would otherwise would have kept living just to check their age.
@gravestone4840 They had a fish fry after studying them; no waste.
@@Causemoiwell it would be a waste, as fried sucker and carp is basically the worst method of cooking them by far
Excellent
Hey, FDR was the man. It took us 90 years to screw up all the good he did. I didn't know they were buffalo fish. When we caught them in Apache and Rosevelt, we thought they were carp and would throw them back.
1:50 Try the sleeper sharks - particularly the Somniosus genus.
That opening scene of brown bears catching salmon swimming up a fall has got to be from Katmai. Alaska!
It'd be interesting if he mentions evolution of fish?
The fish puns!!!!!😂😂😂😂
It’s a food reserve for the underground secret base.
I figured you were going to tell us how they grew legs and walked there like the whales did in the Egyptian desert.
David Attenborough😂🤣😂👍
Very nice
The arch/suspension bridge behind Roosevelt dam, is one of the most amazing sights I've ever come across. To get there, I driven on the dirt track up from Apache Junction for a couple hours, with broad stretching desert canyons , washes and hills in every direction, and hardly a speck of anything man-made in view... When around the corner comes a large, imposing wall of concrete holding back Roosevelt lake. Its far from the biggest, or most impressive, and in fact it's not but a footnote in the story... At the top: originally built as an alternative to driving over the dam itself, because it had been built too short to hold back the possible waters of a 100yr storm... This small arch/suspension bridge frames perfectly the mountains in the distance on the other side of the lake. The placement, style and artistry of it, ADDS to the beauty of the vista, in a way that I have not seen many times. The bridge isn't the focus of interest, nor is the glassy lake behind it or the mountains in the distance. They together create a picture that will live in my mind for the rest of my life.
I'd quite happily go to Arizona to fish!
Just as an anecdote: I accidentally killed a pretty big perch (49cm ((that's about 19 units in the random system)) by a bad hookset. That fish was obv old, and in decline. We brought it to the lab and extracted the ortholite, and it turned out to be 28-29yo. It was also sterile, which all many of the longest pikes also are. Colleagues of mine dissected a 141cm long northern pike, which was found dead floating around (and would have been a lenght swedish record, where it caught alive). That fish was 30+ years old (anyone cutting ortholites in half know there's some discrepancy in those numbers).
1. Those are some dang old fish.
2. Cudos to whoever spent hours on end, cutting those in half and counting the marks on it. On behalf of the limnologist community, we praise you as our hero and hope someone gave you a good neck massage.
Wether old fish just retract/devolve their gonads once they are ready for the retirement home, or they grow that big because they dont have to waste energy producing eggs every year -is still not clear. But it sure is interesting (well, at least for anglers, fish biologists and limnologists). But it has been noticed in many "oversized for their species" fish. They rarely make the newspapers though, as they are often in poor condition, and mostly just - well, long and slim.
I’m in Australia, European perch are an invasive species here. In most waters there are huge numbers of very small fish, larger examples (over 25-30cm) are relatively rare. In a few locations however they can grow to enormous sizes, upwards of 50cm and 3kg. I’ve never really understood what’s going on with that. The theory that older fish stop breeding at some stage could explain this
As a reminder buffalo fish are native fish not carp do not kill buffalo fish if u can.
i for one welcome our new buffalo fish overlords
From west Michigan. I do believe we call those sheepshead, or maybe mislabel them as carp. Never heard of buffalofish. But I've caught ones like that
Year 3000 : Why the oldest fish in the world live in the air?
Re. not breeding - in the UK there are tens of thousands of carp, that grow to 50+lb and live for decades, but hardly ever breed successfully - apparently something to do with summer water temperatures not being warm enough for the fry to survive. So just because adult fish of a species can thrive in an environment doesn't imply that they can breed successfully.
Here's a thought: It is well known that human females have limited 'reproductive age' time. And shocking to some - so do other creatures. Could this limited reproductive age also apply to fish? Could it be that the reason there are no juvenile Buffalo Fish is that all the female fish have lived out their reproductive age?
Incredible, first I’ve heard of buffalo fish. What is their secret to long life!
For the record, They're not endangered because of overfishing by rod and reel fisherman. They're endangered because they are considered a trash fish and have no limits put on them for harvest which bow fisherman exploit by shooting them by the hundreds just to throw away and waste. Almost no one eats these fish.
They’re not breeding because they’re supposed to run. If they’re trapped in a lake, they can’t run down the water weigh like at the creek or a river to spawn which is how they naturally spawn.
Those fish are quite tasty!
Buffalo Fish are extremely rare in the Great Lakes. I've fished all over the Great Lakes for the last 35 years and have never once caught or heard of anyone else catching one.
Welp got my fishing trip planned, even got a place to drop off the fish when I'm done
did you forget about sleepersharks? :)
Talk about Sunapee trout Next
I ate that fish, didn't know. We caught one and some catfish a couple years back. Relative said it was a buffalo fish, never thought about that till this video.
We gonna learn this ability
Imagine living all the way to 80 just to get killed so someone can tell you were old...
Here in Indiana buffalo fish are considered a trash fish species. Many will kill them with consuming them.
After so long they've seen everything so they don't stress out when they get older.
The dam was originally known as "Salt River Dam #1" and wasn't called Roosevelt Dam or Roosevelt Lake until decades later.
Roosevelt named the dam after himself because he was a badass!!!
David Attenborough catching strays
What about sleeper sharks, mayne? Most species of sleeper shark get old as balls.
I think buffalo mostly live off plankton when they're young, so they are much less likely to be caught on rod and line. Though dams might impede their spawning too.
I caught one one time and was so surprised
300 year old Greenland sharks be like uhh... 👀 ???
Genus...*Orders* on astonishing... Intentional or not I like it
Live to be that old just for some human to catch and dissect it in the name of science.
The best thing is that the same thing seems to apply to people in Arizona.
That was great thank you.
I know where I’m moving. 😎 Did they check anybody outside the lake for age spots?
I’m 35 now if I hurry the next time you do the story my property should look pretty nice and I should be about 130 😉
...what about the Greenland-Sleeper-Shark...?
...that's what at first comes to mind with me, when it's about old fish...!
'Ah man, I can't see these fish; they aren't native to my ran-'
Hank: People also brought them to AZ
'LETS GOOOOO'
(hopefully not invasive?)
As a kid, I spent most summer weekends water skiing at Apache. Only fished once, but caught a catfish. Yuk. Gave it away.