Fish
Coelacanth
Latimeria chalumnae
Believed extinct for 65 million years, alongside the dinosaurs, until its spectacular rediscovery in 1938 off South Africa.
🗺️ Geographic range
Coasts of the western Indian Ocean, mainly around the Comoros and South Africa; a second species lives in Indonesia.
📊 Population
Estimated at only a few hundred to just over a thousand mature individuals according to the IUCN, making it one of the rarest and most endangered marine vertebrates on Earth.
Habitat
- Indian Ocean · High seas / open water · Mesopelagic zone · Permanent
Behaviour
- Diet
- Fish and cephalopods, caught near deep rocky crevices.
- Hunting
- Drifts passively at night to conserve energy.
- Reproduction
- Ovoviviparous, with a gestation that can exceed 3 years.
Physiology
- Anatomy
- Fleshy, lobed fins and a mobile cranial joint unique among living fish.
- Adaptations
- An electrosensitive rostral organ in the snout to detect prey in the dark.
⚡ Its extraordinary abilities
- Believed extinct for 65 million years until its rediscovery in 1938
- Fleshy fins that move like limbs, close to the ancestor of the first land vertebrates
🏆 Records
A species rediscovered after the longest apparent absence in the fossil record
Believed extinct for 65 million years until it was caught in 1938.
Source: French National Museum of Natural History
🧭 Historical expeditions
If you cross paths with this animal…
Risk: No danger to humans.
Behaviour: Shy, lives in deep caves.
Advice: A protected, extremely rare species: never approached without scientific expertise.
💡 Did you know?
- Its 1938 rediscovery is considered one of the greatest zoological discoveries of the 20th century.
- A second species was discovered in Indonesia in 1997.