coelacanth
 coelacanth User: JoJan Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Licence |
The coelacanths are amazing fish. They were believed to have been extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period and appear in the fossil records.
Because of their complex looking appearance they were thought to be the "missing link" between the fish and the tetrapods. It is now known that there are a number of populations of coelacanths in the West Indian Ocean.
The adult coelacanths are around 2m in length and can weigh around 80km.
Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae)