We’ve all heard a tall tale or two about someone who caught a fish “this big,” but the latest whopper is a little different. It’s also a lot more exciting, a lot more historic, and, most importantly, it’s also true. A researcher caught a fish “this old!” And at 112 years of age, it’s the the oldest living freshwater fish ever caught.
The Star Tribune reports North Dakota State University graduate student Alec Lackmann has caught and collected five buffalo fish from west-central Minnesota waters that are each over 100 years old. That includes the record setting senior citizen who clocks in at an astonishing 112. The female fish from Crystal Lake was born when Teddy Roosevelt was in the White House. She has spent her life swimming along through the administrations of 19 more presidents. At first, Lackmann said he didn’t believe it was possible the fish could really be that old. But his team of researchers were able to confirm the fish’s age with bomb radiocarbon dating.
In a western Minnesota lake, this NDSU grad student caught the oldest freshwater fish ever verified: a 112-year-old bigmouth buffalo fish. https://t.co/ZMi9AWbJ7X pic.twitter.com/IiWPBUp4ek
— Star Tribune (@StarTribune) August 7, 2019
Lackmann, who feels the carp-like-in appearance buffalo fish is much maligned since it’s considered by many to be a “trash fish” despite its importance to Minnesota waters ecosystem, published the results of his team’s analysis in a paper in the Communications Biology scientific journal.
Despite its age though, the historic fish, caught in 2018, wasn’t particularly large. She weighed only 22 pounds and was 34 inches long. A much “younger” buffalo fish, an 88-year-old female also in the study, came in at closer to 42 pounds and 41 inches in length. But in this case size really doesn’t matter. And besides, we’ve all heard stories about someone catching a fish that was “this big.”
Let’s see someone top one that was “this old.”
Featured Image: Nickelodeon