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Animal profile

West Indian Ocean Coelacanth

Latimeria chalumnae

ActinopterygiiSteep volcanic slopes and submarine caves, commonly around 100 to 500 metresCritically Endangered

Field profile

The West Indian Ocean coelacanth is a large lobe-finned fish reaching about two metres, with fleshy paired fins, a hinged skull and a three-lobed tail. It shelters in caves by day and forages at night. A second species, Latimeria menadoensis, lives in Indonesian waters.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-06-23

West Indian Ocean Coelacanth

The coelacanth was known as a fossil first

Coelacanths were described from fossils and thought to have ended with the Cretaceous, until a living one was pulled from a trawl catch off South Africa in 1938 and recognised by a museum curator.

Read with evidence →

West Indian Ocean Coelacanth | Daily Animal Facts