The world around us is growing every day, and new species are constantly being discovered. On the flip side, there’s a species of fish that has seemed to outlast even the earliest creatures and people the Earth has ever known. During a time when war and depression reigned supreme, a miracle occurred below the surface. Just off the coast of South Africa, a strange animal had been observed. Coelacanth is a rarely seen species of fish that was thought to have died out millions of years ago, in prehistoric times. While trawling near the mouth of the Chalumna River, Captain Hendrick Goosen inadvertently snagged this large animal in his crew’s shark net. It created shockwaves all over the world to see the Coelacanth still swimming among us in modern times. Nobody expected the fish to remain after so long. At first, it was a total mystery as to what this creature was and why it was there. British museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer was the person who made the stunning news official. In fact, this “new” species earned the name Latimeria chalumnae, in honor of she who literally put the Coelacanth back into existence, in addition to the lucky body of water where it was found. This story proves that those who say there’s nothing out there left to discover are dead wrong. Coelacanth re-emerged from its own extinction nearly a century ago. Thanks to all of the advances in technology that we’ve seen over the years, other animals and plants thought to have died out now get a new lease on life. It just goes to show you that science is not infallible. What other species do you know of that could, and do, still exist today?
Living Relic from Times of Yesteryear
