Believed to have gone extinct decades ago, a 420-million-year-old species of fish has been rediscovered in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Madagascar.
The massive fish weighs in at about 198 pounds and measures about 6.5 feet in length. It's a member of the coelacanth family of fish (Latimeria chalumnae).
While the fish was believed to be pushed out of existence at least a century ago, a recent study documents as many as 334 coelacanth captures as of May 2020.
The species of coelacanth is known as the "four-legged" fish because of its large fins. It lives between 350 and 1,600 feet below the surface of the water.
The fish was named after its discoverer, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, after it was found using gill-nets in 1938. The fish typically weighs up to 200 pounds, according to Mongabay.
More of these types of fish have been discovered and caught near Tanzania, South Africa, and the Comoros Islands. The study which revealed the fish's discovery also makes a case for its conservation.
Related
Latimeria chalumnae are considered critically endangered by the IUCN, and the study notes the negative impact gill-net fishing can have in the shark-fin trade.
"The jarifa gill-nets used to catch sharks are a relatively new and more deadly innovation as they are large and can be set in deep water," researchers said. "There is little doubt that large mesh jarifa gill-nets are now the biggest threat to the survivial of coelacanths in Madagascar."
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram