This article is about the order of fish. For the living species of coelacanths, see Latimeria.
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Coelacanth
Temporal range: Early Devonian – Recent,[1]409–0 Ma
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Live coelacanth seen off Pumula on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, South Africa, 2019
Specimen of Axelrodichthys araripensis from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil (Mawsoniidae)
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Sarcopterygii
Class:
Actinistia Cope, 1871
Order:
Coelacanthiformes Huxley, 1861
Type species
†Coelacanthus granulatus
Agassiz, 1839
Families and genera
Latimerioidei
Latimeriidae
†Mawsoniidae
Others, see text
Coelacanths (/ˈsiːləkænθ/ⓘSEE-lə-kanth) (order Coelacanthiformes) are an ancient group of lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) in the class Actinistia.[2][3] As sarcopterygians, they are more closely related to lungfish and tetrapods (which includes amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) than to ray-finned fish.
Well-represented in both freshwater and marine fossils since the Devonian, they are now represented by only two extant marine species in the genus Latimeria: the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), primarily found near the Comoro Islands off the east coast of Africa, and the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis).[4] The name coelacanth originates from the Permian genus Coelacanthus, which was the first scientifically named coelacanth.[5]
The oldest known coelacanth fossils date back more than 410million years. Coelacanths were thought to have become extinct in the Late Cretaceous, around 66million years ago, but were discovered living off the coast of South Africa in 1938.[6][7]
The coelacanth was long considered a "living fossil" because scientists thought it was the sole remaining member of a taxon otherwise known only from fossils, with no close relations alive,[8] and that it evolved into roughly its current form approximately 400million years ago.[1] However, several more recent studies have shown that coelacanth body shapes are much more diverse than previously thought.[9][10][11]
^ abJohanson, Z.; Long, J. A; Talent, J. A; Janvier, P.; Warren, J. W (2006). "Oldest coelacanth, from the Early Devonian of Australia". Biology Letters. 2 (3): 443–6. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0470. PMC 1686207. PMID 17148426.
^Nelson, Joseph S. (16 March 2016). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-22081-7. OCLC 951128215.
^"Order Summary for Coelacanthiformes". www.fishbase.se. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
^Yokoyama, Shozo; Zhang, Huan; Radlwimmer, F. Bernhard; Blow, Nathan S. (1999). "Coelacanths, Coelacanth Pictures, Coelacanth Facts – National Geographic". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 96 (11): 6279–84. Bibcode:1999PNAS...96.6279Y. doi:10.1073/pnas.96.11.6279. PMC 26872. PMID 10339578.
^Agassiz, L. 1839. Recherches sur les poissons fossiles II. Petitpierre, Neuchâtel.
^Smith, J. L. B. (1956). Old Fourlegs: the Story of the Coelacanth. Longmans Green. p. 24.
^Lavett Smith, C.; Rand, Charles S.; Schaeffer, Bobb; Atz, James W. (1975). "Latimeria, the Living Coelacanth, is Ovoviviparous". Science. 190 (4219): 1105–6. Bibcode:1975Sci...190.1105L. doi:10.1126/science.190.4219.1105. S2CID 83943031.
^Forey, Peter L (1998). History of the Coelacanth Fishes. London: Chapman & Hall. ISBN 978-0-412-78480-4.[page needed]
^Friedman, Matt; Coates, Michael I.; Anderson, Philip (2007). "First discovery of a primitive coelacanth fin fills a major gap in the evolution of lobed fins and limbs". Evolution & Development. 9 (4): 329–37. doi:10.1111/j.1525-142X.2007.00169.x. PMID 17651357. S2CID 23069133.
^Friedman, Matt; Coates, Michael I. (2006). "A newly recognized fossil coelacanth highlights the early morphological diversification of the clade". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 273 (1583): 245–50. doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3316. JSTOR 25223279. PMC 1560029. PMID 16555794.
^Wendruff, Andrew J.; Wilson, Mark V. H. (2012). "A fork-tailed coelacanth, Rebellatrix divaricerca, gen. Et sp. Nov. (Actinistia, Rebellatricidae, fam. Nov.), from the Lower Triassic of Western Canada". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (3): 499–511. Bibcode:2012JVPal..32..499W. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.657317. S2CID 85826893.
Coelacanths (/ˈsiːləkænθ/ SEE-lə-kanth) (order Coelacanthiformes) are an ancient group of lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) in the class Actinistia. As...
Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis, Indonesian: raja laut), also called Sulawesi coelacanth, is one of two living species of coelacanth, identifiable...
The West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) (sometimes known as gombessa, African coelacanth, or simply coelacanth) is a crossopterygian, one...
species of coelacanth. It includes two extant species: the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) and the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria...
only known extant non-tetrapod sarcopterygians are the two species of coelacanths and six species of lungfishes. Early lobe-finned fishes are bony fish...
Coelacanth National Park (French: Parc National Coelacanth) is a national park off the main island of the Comoros. The park is made up a seascape home...
Latimeriidae is the only extant family of coelacanths, an ancient lineage of lobe-finned fish. It contains two extant species in the genus Latimeria,...
Retro Game Challenge is a Nintendo DS game developed by indieszero and published by Namco Bandai Games and Xseed Games in North America. It is based on...
stretch of scaleless skin; in lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) such as coelacanths and lungfish, fins are short rays based around a muscular central bud...
Rieppelia is an extinct genus of latimeriid coelacanth fish from the Middle Triassic of Switzerland, in what is now Monte San Giorgio. It contains a single...
as a Lazarus taxon has been denied by some authors in recent years. Coelacanths disappeared from the fossil record some 80 million years ago (in the...
of 172 countries. In December 1952 a specimen of the West Indian Ocean coelacanth fish was re-discovered off the Comoros coast. The 66 million-year-old...
kilometres separate Ulenge Island Marine Reserve from Tanga Coelacanth Marine Park, where coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) are found and frequently caught in...
the coelacanths. Recent molecular genetic analyses strongly support a sister relationship of lungfishes and tetrapods (Rhipidistia), with coelacanths branching...
berkeley.edu/vertebrates/vertintro.html Berkeley University A fossil coelacanth jaw found in a stratum datable 410 mya that was collected near Buchan...
fish possess teeth covered with true enamel. Lobe-finned fish, such as coelacanths and lungfish, were the most diverse group of bony fish in the Devonian...
endangered. Included are species such as Atlantic cod, Devil's Hole pupfish, coelacanths, and great white sharks. Because fish live underwater they are more difficult...
larva will be basically similar to the adult animal, as in lampreys, coelacanth and the salamanders. Eggs with a large yolk are called macrolecithal....
The Tanga Coelacanth Marine Park (TCMP) (Hifahdi ya taifa Bahari ya Sikilikanti wa Tanga, in Swahili) is a Marine park in Tanzania, with the IUCN category...
African Party and National Party merge to form the United Party. The Coelacanth is discovered by Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer living off the coast of South...
Eastern Cape, South Africa, notable for holding the type specimen of the coelacanth, a fish previously believed to be long extinct. It was the workplace of...
Eugeneodont holocephalan that had an elongated lower jaw. Allenypterus was a Coelacanth fish known from the Bear Gulch Limestone in Montana. Phanerosteon was...
spine") is a genus of extinct coelacanths that first appeared during the Permian period. It was the first genus of coelacanths described, about a century...
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