coelacanth

American  

[see-luh-kanth] / ˈsi ləˌkænθ /

noun

1. a crossopterygian fish, Latimeria chalumnae, thought to have been extinct since the Cretaceous Period but found in 1938 off the coast of southern Africa.

---

coelacanth British  

/ ˈsiːləˌkænθ /

noun

1. a primitive marine bony fish of the genus Latimeria (subclass Crossopterygii ), having fleshy limblike pectoral fins and occurring off the coast of E Africa: thought to be extinct until a living specimen was discovered in 1938

---

coelacanth Scientific  

/ sē′lə-kănth′ /

1. Any of various fishes of the group Coelacanthiformes or Actinistia, having lobed, fleshy fins. Coelacanths are crossopterygians, the ancient group of lobe-finned fishes that gave rise to land vertebrates. They were known only from Paleozoic and Mesozoic fossils until a living species (Latimeria chalumnae) was found in the Indian Ocean in 1938. A second Latimeria species was described in 1999.

---

Other Word Forms

• coelacanthine
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of coelacanth

1605–15; < New Latin Coelacanthus originally a genus name, equivalent to coel- coel- + Greek -akanthos -spined, -thorned, adj. derivative of ákantha spine, thorn

Example Sentences

Landing a generational quarterback is supposed to be near-impossible, like finding a coelacanth, a cool midsize rental car, or a Journal sports columnist who knows what he’s talking about.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026

A deep-water fish called coelacanth similarly survived the mass extinction that wiped out all the dinosaurs that did not evolve into birds, he pointed out.

From Barron's • Jan. 28, 2026

"During his Masters in Palaeobiology at Bristol, Jacob realized that many fossils previously assigned to the small marine reptile Pachystropheus actually came from coelacanth fishes," explains Professor Mike Benton, one of Quinn's supervisors.

From Science Daily • Oct. 31, 2025

Several of those compounds also trigger receptors in bony fish such as zebrafish and the “living fossil” coelacanth, and all of them taste bitter to humans.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 12, 2023

Latimeria and the history of the coelacanth fishes.

From A New Genus of Pennsylvania Fish (Crossoperygii, Coelacanthiformes) from Kansas by Echols, Joan