>
> How long can a cnidarian live? Depends on how
you define "a cnidarian".
> Some corals living today may be over 1000 years
old and corals living in
> the past when sea levels were more stable may
have lived many times longer
> ( Potts, D.C. 1984. Palaeobiology 10, 48-58).
A coral colony can be
> considered equivalent to "a cnidarian" as the
polyps are all parts of the
> same genetic individual spread out in time
and space.
> George.
>
Anemones indeed are anecdotally known to live to be "monstrously old".
There is the tale of an anemone kept as a pet at the University of
Edinborough that lived from sometime in the mid-1800s until around
the
1960s. She (her name was Gertie, I think - this is where the
apocryphal
part begins) didn't die of old age, rather when a janitor (or perhaps
a
botanist?!) failed to maintain the seawater system over a long weekend.
I recall that this story may be retold in Ricketts and Calvin.
Other anecdotal evidence comes from Bob Paine's monitoring of large
solitary individual anemones (Urticina crassicornis and Anthopleura
xanthogrammica) in the field at Tatoosh Island, Washington from 1968
or so
to today, with no appreciable chance in position or size. Many
people
have kept anemones in the lab for many years, also with no evidence
of
aging (e.g. John Pearse has kept Anthopleura artemisia at UC Santa
Cruz
for a decade or more). Also, Paul Illg is said to have transplanted
two
A. xanthogrammica to a tidepool on San Juan Island many decades ago,
and
they are still around.
Finally, I think Ken Sebens did some demographic projections on survival
rate data for Anthopleura xanthogrammica (a large solitarly species),
and
found that the average age at Tatoosh Island was something like 500
years,
and that one individual may have been around since the Pleistocene
(these
very rough estimates based on the vanishingly low mortality rate during
a
6-year field study).
I think at the cellular level there is little or no evidence of senescence
in anemones, and as George Mackie pointed out, genotypes of clonal
anemones may live indefinitely, even if the odd polyp dies from predation,
disease, or even old age. That's all I know - I'm interested
in what
others do!
Dave
*****************************************************************************
DAVID L. SECORD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biology & Environmental Science Coordinator
(UWT)
and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Zoology, UW-Seattle
Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
TEL: (253) 692-5659
University of Washington, Tacoma
TDD: (253) 692-4413
1900 Commerce Street, Mailstop #358436
FAX: (253) 692-5612
Tacoma, WA 98402-3100 USA
EMAIL: dave@u.washington.edu
*****************************************************************************
How long can a cnidarian live? Depends on how
you define "a cnidarian".
Some corals living today may be over 1000 years
old and corals living in
the past when sea levels were more stable may
have lived many times longer
( Potts, D.C. 1984. Palaeobiology 10, 48-58).
A coral colony can be
considered equivalent to "a cnidarian" as the
polyps are all parts of the
same genetic individual spread out in time and
space.
George.
----------------------- Internet Header --------------------------------
Sender: owner-CNIDARIA@UCI.EDU
Received: from listserv.nts.uci.edu (listserv.nts.uci.edu
[128.200.200.202])
by sphmgaaf.compuserve.com (8.9.3/8.9.3/SUN-1.9)
with ESMTP id VAA22584;
Mon, 5 Jun 2000 21:58:12 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from host (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by listserv.nts.uci.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with
SMTP id SAA23820;
Mon, 5 Jun 2000 18:57:46 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mta6.nts.uci.edu (mta6.nts.uci.edu
[128.195.200.206])
by listserv.nts.uci.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with
ESMTP id SAA23375
for <cnidaria@listserv.service.uci.edu>;
Mon, 5 Jun 2000 18:26:28 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (from daemon@localhost)
by mta6.nts.uci.edu (8.9.3/8.8.5) id SAA28253
for cnidaria@listserv.service.uci.edu.xyzzy;
Mon, 5 Jun 2000 18:27:19 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (from daemon@localhost)
by mta6.nts.uci.edu (8.9.3/8.8.5) id SAA28246
for CNIDARIA@UCI.EDU.xyzzy; Mon, 5 Jun
2000 18:27:19 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from unix4.UVic.CA (mackie@unix4.UVic.CA
[142.104.5.112])
by mta6.nts.uci.edu (8.9.3/8.8.5) with
ESMTP id SAA28235
for <CNIDARIA@UCI.EDU>; Mon, 5 Jun 2000
18:27:18 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from localhost (mackie@localhost)
by unix4.UVic.CA (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP
id SAA35548;
Mon, 5 Jun 2000 18:26:15 -0700
Message-Id: <Pine.A41.4.21.0006051818180.30420-100000@unix4.UVic.CA>
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 18:26:14 -0700 (PDT)
Reply-To: CNIDARIA@UCI.EDU
Sender: owner-CNIDARIA@UCI.EDU
From: George Mackie <mackie@uvic.ca>
To: CNIDARIA@UCI.EDU
Cc: euclydes@octopus.furg.br
Subject: Re: Fwd: How old?
In-Reply-To: <4.1.20000605160420.00aa5c40@socrates.berkeley.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
X-Authentication-Warning: unix4.UVic.CA: mackie
owned process doing -bs
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 -- ListProcessor(tm)
by CREN
Speaking only for jellies and polyps, I only know
of two "really old" examples:
1) Lambert started a culture of Aurelia in 1935.
In approx. 1965, he gave a
portion of this culture to Dorothy Spangenberg,
and she in turn gave Cabrillo
Marine Aquarium some in 1994. By rough math that
puts it at about 65 years old
if it is stilll going!
2) Single medusae: In about 1995 or 1996 Freya
Sommer told me that some
particular medusae in her tank were at least
7 years old (or maybe 9?, but I
think she said 7 -- I could check my notes).
They were still large medusae in
the tank, but I believe they were no longer tracked
once she left. Mike Schaadt
at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium told me recently
that he had one that he knew was
at least 6.
As for a single polyp, I ran an experiment a few
years back to see, and
unfortunately it was destroyed before the answer
became known. At the time the
petrie dishes went belly up, single polyp cultures,
whihc had been continuously
culled for buds, were 10 1/2 months old and still
going strong. IN that time,
each of 3 stobilated twice and produced approximately
60 buds. Details are in
forthcoming in print.
I have heard stories of monstrously old anemones, but I know no details.
Hope that helps, Lisa Gershwin
In a message dated
6/5/00 9:35:55 AM Pacific Daylight Time, resteele@UCI.EDU
writes:
>How long can a cnidarian live?
>
<< euclydes@octopus.furg.br >>
As for jellyfish, the oldest I know of would be
probably be at Monterey Bay
Aquarium, as Lisa Gershwin has already stated-these
animals (Aurelia) would
be about 11-12 years old if any of the originals
are still around. Else,
Oregon Coast Aquarium has had some of theirs
in their cylinder tank since
they opened, making them at least 8-9 yrs.
It has been suggested that some tropical anemones
live to 100 yrs or so and
their cold water conterparts even longer.
If you count corals colonies as individual animals,
then probably 1000's of
years. Of course one would have to define
if a coral colony is an individual
cnidarian or a mass of individual polyps.
Is a "clone" part of the same
animal, or an entirely new individual with equivalent
genetics, I'm not sure
on that one.
Hope this helps,
James Steele
-----------------------
Dr. Stefano Piraino
ISTTA-CNR
Via Roma 3
74100 Taranto
Italy
(+39)0994542209 voice
(+39)0994542215 fax
piraino@istta.le.cnr.it
Again, I only have personal experience to go on here, but I have maintained
existing medusa of Aurelia aurita for 5+ years. I have numerous
scleractinian species such as Platygyra, Trachyphillia, Pleurogyra
that have
lived for at least 9 years. I also have a number of SPS corals like
Montipora and Acropora that have lived at least 5 years. Since none
of these
organisms seems to show signs of 'getting old', and all are actively
growing
appear healthy, I surmise this trend will continue for some time barring
husbandry or environmental problems in their systems.
I suspect others in the public aquarium sector can confirm that many
corals
have lived for many years in captivity, along with certain anemone
species
barring husbandry issues. In captivity, I would feel confident the
leading
cause of death is husbandry related, rather than natural lifespan of
the
animals.
Jonathan Lowrie
Aquarist Supervisor
California Science Center
Tel: 213 744-2612
Fax: 213 744-2547
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Volume 61, Issue 9 1997
Aspartic acid racemization and amino acid composition
of the organic
endoskeleton of the deep-water colonial anemone
Gerardia: determination of
longevity from kinetic experiments
G.A. Goodfriend, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie
Inst of Washington,
Washington DC 20015-1305, USA
Abstract
An age of 250 (±70) yr is estimated for
a specimen of the colonial anemone
Gerardia collected alive from 630 m depth off
the Bahamas. This age is
calculated from (1) the difference in aspartic
acid (Asp) racemization
measured in the outermost (youngest) and innermost
(oldest) layers of the
trunk of the organic endoskeleton of the specimen
and (2) the estimated
rate of Asp
racemization, as extrapolated from heating experiments.
The estimated age
(250 yr) is much younger than that suggested
by radiocarbon measurements of
the specimen (ca. 1800 yr). The amino acid composition
of the endoskeleton
of Gerardia is unusual, with histidine comprising
30% of the total. The
composition resembles proteins of the endoskeleton
of antipatharians (black
corals).
Best regards,
Patrice BERNARD still working
on Pelagia blooms in the French
mediterranean coast.
------------------------------------------------
Patrice BERNARD
Laboratoire d'Histologie
Faculté de Médecine
F-06107 Nice
pbernard@unice.fr
More seriously, there is circumstantial evidence that a British sea-anemone
population has been unchanged for more than 200 years and possibly
has the
same individuals in (me, unpublished); and I think it was T A Stephenson
(1928, 1935) who cited George Johnston (1847) as having kept some Actinia
for most of his life and passed the cultures to someone else who kept
them
for a further few decades. Someone else left a culture of Actinia
in a
tank that received no attention while he went to do service in WW2,
and
they still survived in hypersaline conditions in the tank - don't know
the
reference. I think in Prosser & Brown a culture of Hydra
is mentioned that
was kept for many years at gradually raised temperatures but which
died
when someone unplugged the heater one evening. No doubt others,
and surely
the 'coral' groups beat the lot.
Dr Paul Cornelius
Department of Zoology
The Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 5BD
NEW TELEPHONE NUMBERS [From July 1999]
Tel. [44] (0)20 7942 5717; fax 7942 5433
Museum Home Page:< http://www.nhm.ac.uk
Andy Spencer
Andy N. Spencer
aspencer@bms.bc.ca
Director
Bamfield Marine Station
Bamfield, B.C., Canada V0R 1B0
Tel 250 728-3301 (Ext 215)
Cell 250 720-5777
Fax 250 728-3452
Exp Gerontol 1998 May;33(3):217-25
Mortality patterns suggest lack of senescence in hydra.
Martinez DE
Department of Biology, Pomona College, Claremont,
California 91711-6339, USA.
dmartinez@pomona.edu
Senescence, a deteriorative process that increases
the
probability of death of an organism with increasing
chronological age, has been found in all metazoans
where
careful studies have been carried out. There
has been much
controversy, however, about the potential immortality
of
hydra, a solitary freshwater member of the phylum
Cnidaria,
one of the earliest diverging metazoan groups.
Researchers
have suggested that hydra is capable of escaping
aging by
constantly renewing the tissues of its body.
But no data
have been published to support this assertion.
To test for
the presence or absence of aging in hydra, mortality
and
reproductive rates for three hydra cohorts have
been analyzed
for a period of four years. The results provide
no evidence
for aging in hydra: mortality rates have remained
extremely
low and there are no apparent signs of decline
in reproductive
rates. Hydra may have indeed escaped senescence
and may be
potentially immortal.
Cheers,
Jean-Pierre,
immunologist yet cnidaria fan
______________________________________________________
Jean-Pierre Levraud
Centre d'Immunologie INSERM-CNRS de Marseille-Luminy
Parc Scientifique et Technologique de Luminy,
Case 906
13288 Marseille Cedex 9, France
tel: (33) 4 91 26 94 68 ; fax: (33) 4 91 26 94
30
e-mail : levraud@ciml.univ-mrs.fr