There was once a fish named Hanako who lived longer than your great-great-great-great-great grandparents. She was 226 years old!
When Hanako was born in 1751, there were no cars, no phones, no TVs, no computers. George Washington was only 19 years old. Your country probably didn’t even exist yet!
And this amazing fish kept swimming until 1977. She saw everything happen in the world for over 200 years.
How Do We Know She Was That Old?
You know how you can count the rings inside a tree to see how old it is? Fish have rings on their scales too! Each ring = one year.
Scientists very carefully took two tiny scales from Hanako’s body. Then they looked at them under a microscope and counted every single ring. It took two whole months to count them all!
The answer? 226 rings. 226 years. Mind. Blown.
What Made Hanako Live So Long?
Hanako was a special type of fish called a koi. She was bright red and beautiful. By the time she was old, she was as long as a baseball bat and weighed as much as a bowling ball.
Koi fish can live a really, really long time if you take good care of them. Here’s what helped Hanako:
- Super clean water
- Healthy fish food
- Cold winters that made her sleep more and slow down (like a bear hibernating)
In Japan, where Hanako lived, having a koi fish that’s over 100 years old is pretty normal. But 226? That’s like winning the lottery twice!
A Fish That Became a Best Friend
The last person who owned Hanako was a doctor named Dr. Koshihara. His grandmother gave him the fish. And HER grandmother had the fish before that. And someone even older had it before THAT.
Dr. Koshihara loved Hanako so much that he went on the radio in 1966 and told the whole country of Japan about her. He said she was his best friend.
Imagine having a pet that your grandma had when SHE was little. And her grandma had it too. And even older people before that. That’s what Hanako was like!