How Greenland sharks live for hundreds of years without going blind

Greenland sharks, the longest-lived vertebrates in the world, show no signs of physical deterioration in their retinas even after living for hundreds of years. The finding is especially surprising as some scientists suspected the animals were functionally blind since they live in such deep, dark waters.

Lily Fogg at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and her colleagues conducted physical studies of the eyes of eight dead Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) and sequenced their DNA.

In humans and most other…