coelacanth

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See also: cœlacanth

English

Latimeria chalumnae

Alternative forms

Etymology

From the New Latin genus name Coelacanthus, from Ancient Greek κοῖλος (koîlos, “hollow”) + ἄκανθα (ákantha, “spine”), referring to the hollow caudal fin rays of the first fossil specimen described and named by Louis Agassiz in 1839.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsiː.lə.kænθ/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

coelacanth (plural coelacanths)

  1. Either of two species of deep-water fish, Latimeria chalumnae of the Indian Ocean and Latimeria menadoensis of Indonesia.
    Synonym: gombessa
  2. Any lobe-finned fish in the order Coelacanthiformes, thought until 1938 to have been extinct for 70 million years.
    • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 32:
      Among them were ancient relatives of the piranhas and those popular aquarium fish the tetras, along with garfish and freshwater coelacanths, known as mawsonids.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “coelacanth”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

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