Wildlife
Coelacanths are living fossils. The whole group was thought to be extinct until a specimen was caught in 1938. There are two living species: the coelacanth and the Sulawesi coelacanth. They inhabit deep water, so are rarely seen and difficult to film.
Scientific name: Latimeria
Rank: Genus
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A fishy tale
A coelacanth links land dwellers with their ocean heritage.
David Attenborough goes to the Madagascar Research Institute's laboratory to see its most famous fish - the coelacanth. Until 1938 it was believed to be extinct. The coelacanth, or a fish very like it, would have been the ancestor of all amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. This clip was first broadcast in 1961.
Living fossil
A rare coelacanth is caught on camera.
It is unusual for a coelacanth to be caught alive, but while the BBC were in the Comoros one was landed, so it was returned to the sea and filmed. This remarkable, deep water fish is extremely rare and can tell us a lot about the evolution of life from the sea to land. This is the first and only time one has been filmed by the BBC to date.
The following habitats are found across the Coelacanths distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Shallow seasDiscover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Discover the other animals and plants that lived during the following geological time periods.
Latimeria is a genus comprising the living species of coelacanth.
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Adapted to swimming
Carnivorous
Tactile sense
Active at birth
Predator
Viviparous
Eocene epoch
Oligocene epoch
Miocene epoch
Pliocene epoch
Pleistocene epoch
Holocene epoch