Hanako (
c. 1751 – July 7, 1977) was a scarlet
koi
or more specifically , are colored varieties of the Amur carp ('' Cyprinus rubrofuscus'') that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens.
Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of ''C. rubrofuscus'' ke ...
fish owned by several individuals, the last of whom was Dr. Komei Koshihara. The name translates to "flower child" in Japanese.
Far exceeding the
average lifespan for her breed, she was reportedly 226 years old at the time of her death.
[ Her age was determined in 1966 by removing two of her ]scales
Scale or scales may refer to:
Mathematics
* Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points
* Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original
* Scale factor, a number w ...
and examining them extensively. At this time, Hanako weighed and measured in length.growth rings
Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...
of one of the koi's scales reported that Hanako was 226 years old. She may be, to date, the longest-lived koi fish ever recorded.[ There has been a dispute as to the veracity of these longevity claims.
The average koi bred outside of Japan can be expected to reach 15 years of age, while the average Japanese koi's lifespan is 40 years. Some sources give an accepted age for the species at little more than 50 years.]
See also
*List of longest-living organisms
This is a list of the longest-living biological organisms: the individual(s) (or in some instances, clones) of a species with the longest natural maximum lifespans. For a given species, such a designation may include:
# The oldest known individ ...
References
External links
The story of Hanako the koi lived to an age of 226 years
Carp
1977 animal deaths
Individual fish
{{Pet-stub