Oldest Rockfish: Catch Believed to Be 200 Years Old

The oldest rockfish became someone's rare catch this week. Seattle resident Henry Liebman caught the animal which may be a record setter as it is believed to be 200 years old.

The old fish is believed to have been born some time in 1813. According to Troy Tydingco of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the previous record went to a shortraker rockfish (Sebastes borealis) that was 175 years old, but Tydingco tells the Daily Sitka Sentinel that the previous fish "was quite a bit smaller than the one Henry caught."

For a picture of the actual catch, Click Here.

"That fish was 32-and-a-half inches [83 centimeters] long, where Henry's was almost 41 inches [104 cm] - so his could be substantially older," Tydingco said.

The actual age of the rockfish caught by Liebman will be determined by a lab in Juneau, where samples were sent, the Sentinel reports. The scientists will be able to estimate the age of the rockfish by examining an ear bone called the otolith. This bone contains growth rings like those that are found in the trunk of a tree.

The hypothesis that the fish may be older than the previous record may not be true as some researcher have found that in some animal species, smaller individuals sometimes live longer than bigger individuals. This could be due to abnormal cell growth which raises the risk of cancer in larger body sizes.

The oldest living animal ever found was a quahog claim that was found in the waters off of Iceland. Scientists estimated the little clam to be about 400 years old.

If Liebman's rockfish doesn't set the age record, it might still set the record for size. The rockfish may be the largest ever caught at 39.08 pounds. The old record was 38.69 pounds.

"I knew it was abnormally big, [but I] didn't know it was a record until on the way back - we looked in the Alaska guidebook that was on the boat," Liebman told the Sentinel.

Rockfish live in deep waters from 84 feet to 4,000 feet. Liebman said he caught the fish at around 900 feet deep.

Liebman took the fish back home to Washington where he plans to have it mounted.