coelacanth

Until 1938 the coelacanth was believed to have been extinct for over 65 million years. Individual fish may live to be 60 years old.

Large dark brown to blue-grey fish that can grow to about 2 m/6 ft in length, and weigh up to 73 kg/160 lb. It has bony, overlapping scales, and muscular lobe (limblike) fins sometimes used like oars when swimming and for balance while resting on the sea floor. They feed on other fish, and give birth to live young rather than shedding eggs as most fish do. Coelacanth fossils exist dating back over 400 million years and coelacanth were believed to be extinct until one was caught in 1938 off the coast of South Africa. For this reason they are sometimes referred to as ‘living fossils’. Populations have since been discovered off the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean, the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, and Sodwana Bay on the northeast coast of South Africa.

Coelacanths were listed as endangered in 1991, and in May 2000 were placed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix I, which bans all trade in the species.

Classification