EIGHT weeks. That鈥檚 the maximum lifespan of a tiny fish found on Australia鈥檚 Great Barrier Reef, making it the shortest-lived vertebrate known.
The previous record holder, at 12 weeks, was the turquoise killifish of Africa, which must mature and breed before seasonal waterholes dry up. Now studies of the ear stones of the pygmy goby, Eviota sigillata, show they live for no more than 59 days, Martial Depczynski and David Bellwood of James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, report in Current Biology (vol 15, p R288). Ear stones accumulate daily growth rings, revealing the age of fish.
The pygmy goby鈥檚 鈥渓ive fast, die young鈥� strategy is a probably a response to intense predation.
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