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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Katharine Gammon

Methuselah arrived in the US in 1938. She’s now the oldest fish in captivity

Methuselah the Australian lungfish is the oldest fish in captivity in the US.
Methuselah the Australian lungfish is the oldest fish in captivity in the US. Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA

She’s super-gentle, and doesn’t get overly excited. She enjoys eating earthworms, fruits and vegetables, and slowly moving around her tank. Her favorite food – at least for what is in season now – is a fig.

If Methuselah sounds like a grand old dame, it’s because she is: she is the oldest living fish in captivity, aged somewhere upwards of 92 and potentially as high as 101 years. She arrived on a steamship from Australia along with 230 other fish to the Steinhart aquarium in San Francisco in 1938 as a young, small fish. And Methuselah’s story unfolded in a typical way, for a fish in an aquarium: she grew. Humans came to look at her. She peered back through glass at humans.

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