Coelacanths are a part of Sarcopterygii or the lobe-finned fishes, the same clade as the lungfish and tetrapods, and they all possess lobed fins as opposed to rayed fins.
Coelacanth, any of the two living lobe-finned bony fishes of the genus Latimeria. Order Coelacanthiformes, to which all coelacanths belong, was thought to have died out about 66 million years ago, until a coelacanth was caught in 1938.
The coelacanth is a "passive drift feeder," moving slowly and passively near the substrate where it feeds primarily on cephalopods (cuttlefish, squid, and octopus) and fish.
Coelacanths were thought to have been extinct for 70 million years until one was found alive in 1938. What on Earth? The unexpected capture of a living coelacanth in the 1930s was “the most sensational natural history discovery” of the century.
While the coelacanth is often referred to as a “living fossil,” this is a bit of a misnomer. The coelacanth does, in fact, evolve and adapt. Today, the coelacanth is considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (or IUCN).
The African coelacanth was believed to have gone extinct over 65 million years ago but was rediscovered off the coast of South Africa in 1938. Learn about the status and management of this ancient fish.
A New Coelacanth Species Was Hiding in a Museum for 150 Years — and It Fills a 50-Million-Year Gap Learn how new technology revealed a long-forgotten museum specimen to be a missing link in coelacanth evolution.
A New Coelacanth Species Was Hiding in a Museum for 150 Years — and It ...