Until 1938, the thought of a living coelacanth was absurd. Fossils of this cryptic creature came out of the Mesozoic period, and it was believed that these fish had died out over 75 million years ago. The coelacanth and its aquatic cousins are considered relatives of the "lobe-finned" fish who gave rise to the first tetrapods. Thanks to a fisherman and a museum curator, this fish has swum his way from "extinct" to "extant."
One day in 1938, Goosen, a captain of a fishing vessel out of South Africa, decided to fish the mouth of the Chalumna River. He threw his nets out, and when he brought them in, he noticed a strange-looking fish. Since he usually saved any odd specimens for the local museum curator, he set aside the fish (which weighed 60kg and measured 1.6m in length!) and contacted the museum about his odd discovery.
The curator was a woman named Courtenay Latimer, and even though she was not trained in ichthyology (the study of fish), she realized the uniqueness of the specimen presented to her. Due to a minimal budget, the museum offered no freezer or other means of preservation. Therefore, she had the fish taxidermied quickly, but unfortunately the innards of the fish were discarded.
In the mean time, Latimer had sent off letters including some rough sketches of the fish to a J.L.B. Smith, the closest fish expert around. The letters took 11 days to get there, and when they did, Smith was too busy to leave right away. When he got there, his hopes and anxieties were put to ease, as he gazed upon the body of this living fossil. He confirmed that it was a coelacanth, and after that rewards were posted across the coast of Africa for fishermen that could catch the coelocanth. It wasn't until 1952, however, that a second one was finally caught, substantiating the claim to the fish's existence.
DID YOU KNOW....?
The coelacanth was named Latimeria chalumna in honour of both the person (Ms. Latimer)
and site of discovery (Chalumna River).
To access an excellent website about the coelacanth and one man's quest to see one for himself, click here.