Patches of ancient seagrass in the Mediterranean Sea. Up to 200,000 years old. Story here. Analysis shows they could be anywhere from 12,000 to 200,000 years old, but at least 100,000 is probable. That would beat the previous candidate, a Tasmanian plant, by at least a good 57,000 years. The grass spans more than 2,000 miles from Spain to Cyprus.
Not sure if those in the photo are it, as these look barely older than 50,000.
12,000 to 200,000 years. That’s quite an enormous range. Can anyone more scientifically-qualified explain this?
Great story either way 
Yeah, I’m between 5 and 1,000,000 years old, can I claim to be the oldest living organism?
BBC provides a better article here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/16811538
Also from the abstract report article was base on:
“Using estimates from field studies and models of the clonal growth of P. oceanica, we estimated these large clones to be hundreds to thousands of years old, suggesting the evolution of general purpose genotypes with large phenotypic plasticity in this species. These results, obtained combining genetics, demography and model-based calculations, question present knowledge and understanding of the spreading capacity and life span of plant clones.”
Hrm. The first link contains this:
Did the author mean higher latitudes?
To what extent is this the ‘same’ organism? Isn’t it more a case of generations of genetically identical organisms?
They take good care of themselves.
No, because your claim doesn’t stand up to scientific scrutiny. My very uneducated – but better – guess is that you’re between 13 and 80 years old. Would that be more accurate?
If they are identical, then they are the same beast, yes?
How could you possibly know this without a DNA analysis? Sorcery!
Shh! That was supposed to be our little secret!
And it looks like they’ve had some work done. Nothing worse than sagging seagrass.
Cool news.
If they’re all the same organism, do they also count as the world’s largest organism?
I misread the title and was expecting to see Joan Rivers writhing in ecstasy during an orgasm. Thanks for NOT providing that link.
DMark, thanks a lot.
I now must go in for therapy to remove that horrible image from my memory.
Hypnosis, here I come!
No, just having the same genetic material doesn’t make them the “same” organism. If I cloned myself, the resulting person isn’t me, is it? It would be an infant that looked like me.
Identical twins have the same genetic material as each other, but they are not the same person.
In terms of “the oldest living organism”, it’s a bit of a cheat to say that things that reproduce by cloning are the “same” organism. Something like a Bristlecone pine is a better candidate: the same tree, alive for 5,000 years.
I agree, but a plant that keeps expanding through its root system passes the ‘same organism’ test for me. If it gives off spores identical to itself that’s different.
I’m not clear if that’s how this sea grass ‘reproduces’ or not.
Yeah, if that’s how it works in this case, I tentatively agree. For example, some plants send out “runners” that send up new shoots, but it’s all connected underground.
Yeah, that’s why I posed the question - if it is multiple “generations” of clones, I’d say it doesn’t qualify; if it is one big connected plant, that’s a different situation.
I too have no idea how sea grass reproduces …
Anyway, just out of interest, here’s a tree whose root system allegedly goes back to the last ice age (the tree continually clones itself):
So you admit you have witnessed this? 
Thanks. That is much better.