The 100-Year-Old Fish Who Still Loves Belly Rubs

She arrived before World War II broke out. She was alive during the moon landing. She has outlived every keeper, curator, and visitor who first came to see her. And today, a fish named Methuselah still swims in the same Steinhart Aquarium tank she has called home since November 1938.

A Fish With a Datebook Older Than Most People

Methuselah is an Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) - a species so ancient it belongs to a genus that has remained essentially unchanged for over 100 million years.

She arrived at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco via Matson Shipping Lines from Queensland, Australia in autumn 1938, along with more than 200 other fish from Australia and Fiji.

All the others are long gone. Methuselah swims on.

For decades, the aquarium estimated her age at around 84.

Then in September 2023, scientists used a cutting-edge DNA methylation analysis - taken from a harmless fin clip less than 0.5 square centimeters - to revise that estimate upward: between 92 and 101 years old.

She is the oldest living aquarium fish in the world.

A Personality to Match Her Legend

Methuselah is roughly 4 feet long and weighs about 40 pounds.

Her keepers do not describe her in clinical terms.

"She is a pretty content, happy fish," said Brenda Melton, director of animal care at Steinhart Aquarium.

"She has seen more than any of us at Steinhart Aquarium. We are lucky to have her."

She enjoys belly and back rubs from her handlers - a form of enrichment that has built genuine trust over many years.

Her favorite treat is fresh figs, which she receives each fall when they are in season.

Keepers feed her on Sunday and Wednesday afternoons, when visitors can watch.

How She Inherited the Record

For years, the title of oldest living aquarium fish belonged to Granddad, a male Australian lungfish at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium who died in 2017 at an estimated 109 years old.

When Granddad died, Methuselah inherited the distinction.

The 2023 DNA study confirmed she is genuinely ancient - and the title is hers by a wide margin over any other known living aquarium fish.

Her name was chosen deliberately.

In the Bible, Methuselah is said to have lived 969 years - the oldest person in recorded scripture.

The aquarium's Methuselah will not reach that number. But she has already outlasted every expectation scientists had for her species.

Why She Matters Beyond the Record

Australian lungfish are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

The DNA aging technique developed to calculate Methuselah's age can now be applied to wild populations without harming the animals.

She is not just a beloved tank resident - she is a model for protecting one of the oldest vertebrate lineages still alive on Earth.