Meet Hanako, the World's Oldest Koi Fish That Lived Up to 226 Years in Japan!

A Japanese fish named Hanako is thought to be the longest-serving Koi fish in history, having made it to the glorious old age of 226 before she died in 1977. The scarlet-colored fish was born in 1751, Japan, in the heart of the Tokugawa era.

While the typical lifespan of a scarlet koi carp is about 40 years, Hanako endured to live competently into the 1970s and was 226 years old when she died. Her remarkable story was initially communicated when her last owner Dr. Komei Koshihara made a national report on Nippon Hoso Kyokai radio station in 1966.

(Photo : Engin Akyurt)

Hanako's Age

Koshihara said he realized Hanako's age because he had it analyzed by professor Masayoshi Hiro, who operated at the Animal Science Laboratory at Women's College, Nagoya. Pair of the fish's scales had been pulled and examined for more than two months, enabling Hiro to figure the rings of growth on her scales to assume her age.

In an English transcript from the report, Koshihara explained, "Hanako is however in excellent condition and swimming about elegantly in a calm ravine descending Mt. Ontake in a brief distance, with her length being 70 centimeters and 7.5 kilograms in weight."

Furthermore, Koshihara considers Hanako to be a close friend, and at a time, someone watching him asked whether he was doing a trick with the fish. He went ahead explaining how Hanako appears to feel deeply valued, saying that there are different communication of feelings between them.

Yearly Rings

Koshihara biggest pleasure is to travel to his home town three or two times a month and keep company with Hanako, and was sometimes asked how he could know the age of the fish. The age of th fish can be known with 'the help of a microscope' and 'a specialist'. "As a tree trunk has its yearly rings, so a fish has its yearly rings on its scales, and we just have to count them to tell the age of a fish," he explained.

Koshihara also disclosed where the fish arrived from, explaining that his grandmother on the maternal side is said to have been informed by her mother-in-law, when she was wedded into the family to take very good care of the carp because it has been handed down from the ancient times.

Koshihara became very curious to know how long the car survived when this story was told to him, then he discovered Hanako's age by the before-mentioned technique, mourning greatly when being compelled to size a scale off her gorgeous body.

(Photo : Samarth Singhai)

How Scarlet Was Caught

Hanako was caught in a net very carefully, two scales from various parts of her body was cleared out by using a firm tweezer. The scales were evaluated by the Laboratory of Domestic Science, Prof. Masayoshi Hiro of Nagoya Women's College.

It took the professor two months to attain a satisfactory conclusion. By the use of the light microscope, pictures of every part of the scales was taken.

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Tags fish, Japanese, research