The world鈥檚 oldest fish fly, dubbed FF12354-012517UoS, has passed on.
The insect, a member of the order Ephemeroptera, was born in captivity in a lab at the University of Saskatchewan on January 27, 2017 at 6:37 a.m. and died January 28, 2017 at 12:52 p.m. aged 30 hours and 15 minutes.
鈥淪he seemed to just hang on forever,鈥� said fish fly researcher Dexter Dorkus, noting that in human years the bug would have been close to 137 years old.
鈥淭he average life span of these little guys is about 21 hours,鈥� Dorkus said. 鈥淏ut FF12354-012517UoS, or as I liked to call her FF12354-012717UoS, was special.鈥�
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 really realize how attached you get to them until they鈥檙e gone,鈥� he continued. 鈥淚t seems like just yesterday she was a nymph.鈥�
While there was an emotional outpouring of condolences on social media, not everybody was sympathetic.
Meryl Baldwin, a fish fly scientist at the University of Regina, questioned the validity of Dorkus鈥檚 claim.
鈥淚鈥檝e never seen one last more than 25 hours, so this seems more than extraordinary,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ow do we know this animal was as old as he said it was? This has not been peer-reviewed. He should produce his data.鈥�
Baldwin thinks Dorkus may have financial reasons to falsify that data.
鈥淔ish fly research is a cutthroat field,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here is limited funding. A publicity stunt like this could mean tens of dollars in future grants.鈥�
Dorkus dismissed Baldwin鈥檚 claim as professional jealousy.
