Coelacanth: The Fish That Time Forgot

Documentary about the coelacanth, a prehistoric bony fish believed to have been long extinct until one was captured in 1938 off the coast of southern Africa. No trace was found until May 2000 when a colony of fish were discovered and filmed. The coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) is an enigmatic and important species of fish. It is the only living member (along with a second newly discovered species Latimeria) of the lobe-finned fish, a group that some believe to be the sister group of vertebrates. Early naturalists, who studied the fossil record has long puzzled and intrigued by this creature, with its lobes, like the fin tips. But it was only with the publication of Darwin’s Origin of the species in 1859, and his theory of evolution, that its true meaning first became apparent.