Ming the Mollusc is the world's oldest animal on record. The scientists accidentally killed Ming who was 507 years old before its death - 100 years older from its original claim.

Ming is an ocean quahog - a type of deep-sea clam - that was scoured alive from the bottom of the ocean in North Atlantic near Iceland on 2006 by researchers. It was placed in a freezer for preservation since the people who found it was not aware of its age.

The scientists from Bangor University studied the the world's oldest animal and it was only then that they have found out that it was 400 years old.

Ming the Mollusc, although it was too late, made it to the Guinness Book of World Records when the discovery was made. It was named after the Chinese dynasty hence it was the one on the throne when its life began.

The scientists examined the ocean quahog more closely and have found that the creature was actually 100 years older that they first claimed.

"We got it wrong the first time and maybe we were a bit hasty publishing our findings back then. But we are absolutely certain that we've got the right age now," Dr Paul Butler, a scientist from the University's School of Ocean Sciences explained.

Similar to how trees age are being counted through its rings in its trunks, an ocean quahog rings on its shell is the basis of its age. A quahog's shell grows layer by layer each year during the warmer water of summer when food is abundant.

They originally counted Ming's rings from the hinge, but because it was too old, many of its rings had been compacted, when the scientists further studied it they found more rings outside of its shell, proving that it is 507 years old.

According to a statement issued on Science Nordic by Jan Heinemeier, an associate professor at the University of Denmark and one of the researchers who helped date Ming:

 "The fact alone that we got our hands on an animal that's 507 years old is incredibly fascinating, but the really exciting thing is of course everything we can learn from studying the mollus," Heinemeier said about the world's oldest animal.