Scientists Capture Rare Images of Indonesian Coelacanth
First discovered in 1997 and described as a new species two years later, the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria Menadoensis) is one of two living species of coelacanth, a deep-sea fish that closely resembles its ancestors from the Cretaceous period.Deep diver about a meter behind the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria Menadoensis) discovered at a depth of 144 m in North Maluku, Indonesia. Image credit: Alexis Chappuis.Coelacanths are a group of large, sea-cave dwelling lobe-finned fish (sarcopterygians).
They were thought to be extinct for 65 million years, until a first living specimen was discovered fortuitously in South Africa in 1938 by a South African museum curator on a local fishing trawler.
Coelacanths present several unique and intriguing features such as unpaired lobbed-fins looking much like paired fins and highly modified lungs/swim bladder.
Together with lungfish, they are the closest relatives to tetrapods...
