Coelacanth - An Ancient Deep Sea Creature

Coelacanth

It's a type of ancient fish that have lived 6million years ago. And now it's still exist.

Size: 6.5 ft (2 m)

Weight: 198 lbs (90 kg)

The Ceolaclanths are deep-sea creatures, living in depths up to 2,300 feet (700 meters) below the surface.

Coelacanths have 8 fins - 2 dorsal fins, 2 pectoral fins, 2 pelvic fins, 1 anal fin and 1 caudal fin.

The Coelacanth is unique in that it was discovered in the twentieth century despite how it was though to be extinct. In late 1938 a Coelacanth was caught at the Chalumna River on the eastern part of South Africa. The crew that caught it thought it looked unusual so it consulted a museum in the town of East London, South Africa for assistance with identifying it. It turned out that it was a fish that was identified as being the same as that of what fossilized remains of a Coelacanth featured.

 

The rediscovery of the fish prompted the change in the scientific name of the fish. The name was created in honor of East London Museum director Marjorie Courtney-Latimer and the South African ichthyologist Dr. J.L.B. Smith. Smith was informed by Courtney-Latimer of this discovery.

The grouping of the Coelacanth that was found was located in the Comoros Islands. This is a grouping of islands between the mainland and Madagascar. It was believed to be the only population of this fish in the world until the late part of the twentieth century.