Mings alder blev beregnet ved at tælle årringe (årlige vækstlinjer) i skallen. Ming var det ældste kendte individuelle (ikke-koloniale) dyr nogensinde, hvis alder har kunnet bestemmes præcist.<ref name="Farrar">{{Kilde nyheder|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ming-the-mollusc-holds-secret-to-long-life-mfcvbtxl6gr|title=Ming the mollusc holds secret to long life|last=Farrar|first=Steve|date=2007-10-28|work=[[The Sunday Times]]|access-date=2013-09-01|location=London}}</ref><ref name="telegraph">{{Kilde nyheder|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567562/Clam,-405,-is-oldest-animal-ever.html|title=Clam, 405, is oldest animal ever|last=Alleyne|first=Richard|date=2007-10-28|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=2008-07-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503222950/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567562/Clam%2C-405%2C-is-oldest-animal-ever.html|archive-date=2008-05-03|location=London}}</ref><ref name="Butler_2013">{{Cite journal|titel=Variability of marine climate on the North Icelandic Shelf in a 1357-year proxy archive based on growth increments in the bivalve Arctica islandica|journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology}}</ref>
Geologi