Discovery of the Coelacanth

The coelacanth's rediscovery in 1938 off South Africa stands as the most dramatic example of a Lazarus taxon in marine biology, dethroning assumptions that deep-sea exploration had few surprises left. Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer's identification of this 1.8-meter fish, thought extinct for 66 million years, provided a living window into the Devonian period. The coelacanth is 30% heavier than the average deep-sea fish, weighing up to 90 kg, and its lobed fins reveal evolutionary links to early tetrapods. This discovery outperforms #4 by offering direct anatomical evidence of a transitional form between fish and land vertebrates, illuminating our own evolutionary origins.