Natural History - Coelacanth Fossil Fish
Triassic Period, circa 247 million years B.P. A fossil coelacanth Whiteia woodwardia fish showing good details, including fins, tail and bony skull structure; supplied in a glazed display case. See Khalaf-Prinz Sakerfalke von Jaffa, N., Coelacanth Fish Fossil, Whiteia woodwardi MoyThomas, 1935, from Ambilobe, Madagascar, 2019, Quastenflosser Fossil 37. 1-15. 118 grams, 15.8 cm (280 grams total, 16 x 13.5 cm including case) (6 1/4 in. (6 1/4 x 5 1/4 in.)). From the Karoo formation of Madagascar.Private Shropshire, UK, collection. The primitive-looking coelacanth was thought to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Its discovery in 1938, by a South African museum curator on a local fishing trawler, fascinated the world and ignited a debate about how this bizarre lobe-finned fish fits into the evolution of land animals. It is often referred to as a ‘living fossil’, referencing its anomalous form in the fossil record. [No Reserve]