Coelacanth the fish who passed through prehistory

The coelacanth, origins & discovery

The coelacanth appeared on earth 365 million years ago and we though the species had passed since the end of the cretaceous! But we are far from that, indeed, a specimen has been caught alive by a South African fisherman in 1938! We know a few thing about this fish that barely changed in 65 million years, except his nickname : living fossil. Scientists know that the coelacanth is nothing else that a men distant cousin but it is not one of our ancestor as it has never been out of water. As a memory of its origins, the coelacanth has a gas pocket, an ancestral lung that allowed it to progress out of water. It also has little arms in its fins.

Morphology of a prehisoric fish

This long fish it can measure up to 2 meters is a predator that lives in 18 to 22°C waters. It hunts at night and feeds on little fishes he detects thanks to a specific sensory organ he has on its muzzle. There are 2 species, the first one living on the African coasts, mostly in South Africa, and the second one in Comoros.

Is the Coelacanth endangered?