Varieties of Buffalofish as Negligibly Senescent Species

A number of vertebrate species exhibit negligible senescence, meaning little to no functional degeneration over the course of their lives. Usually they also exhibit very long life spans for their size, and in comparison to near relative species that do exhibit evident aging. Researchers study these species in order to (a) identify important mechanisms of degenerative aging as targets for further research, as well as to (b) potentially find adjustments to cellular biochemistry that might stop a given mechanism from contributing to aging in our species. The first goal is much more feasible in the near term; it remains to be seen as to whether the second is even plausible to engineer in our lifetimes. A necessary first step in this field of research is to identify which vertebrate species are in fact negligibly senescent. Less is known about life spans and life histories in the wild than one might think, and so one should expect the research community to continue to identify new examples as time goes on. During the 1910s three buffalofish species (Catostomidae: Ictiobus cyprinellus, I. bubalus, I. niger) were reared in ponds along the Mississippi River. Individuals of these buffalofishes were transported to locations across the United States to support or establish commercial fisheries, including Roosevelt Lake, Arizona in 1918. During the 1930s-1960s a commercial fishery existed on Roosevelt Lake, ending by 1970. Scarce information exists on Arizona buffalofishes since...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs