Living With Dinosaurs: Prehistoric Animals That Are Still Alive Today

Animals 3/24/20

The Coelacanth

The coelacanth is so rare that researchers believed it was extinct until 1938. Now we know that this fish has outlived the dinosaurs. This large fish has explored the coast of Africa and Indonesia for over 400 million years.

A rare prehistoric fish, the Coelacanth, is seen.
Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

For a while, researchers believed that that coelacanth was the evolutionary link between sea and land creatures. DNA sequencing from 2013 reveals that that is not the case. Coelacanths are more closely related to the lungfish and other ray-finned sea creatures.