A group of researchers from the University of Bangor, Wales discovered this clam’s age after it was captured in Icelandic waters in 2006. They had to perform a dendrochronological analysis, which is a very fancy word for determining the age of trees or animals by counting the rings present on their shell, trunk, etc. Ming got its name from the Chinese Ming Dynasty that ruled over China during the clam’s year of birth, 1499. This means that she was 507 years old.