Coelacanth

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A rare type of ancient fish with lobed fins, known as a living fossil that was thought extinct until rediscovered in modern times; also used to describe any similar prehistoric marine creature; sometimes referenced metaphorically as a symbol of survival through vast geological periods
2. A deep-sea fish species characterized by jointed, fleshy fins and an ancient lineage dating back hundreds of millions of years, once presumed lost but found alive; the name also applies to comparable prehistoric fish fossils; often emblematic of evolutionary history and resilience
3. A seldom-seen marine animal bearing limb-like fins and belonging to a lineage believed to have vanished millions of years ago before its unexpected modern sightings; term extended to related archaic fish forms; frequently cited as an example of biological endurance across epochs

Etymology: Louis Agassiz, the Swiss-born naturalist, named the coelacanth in 1839 from a fossil whose tail fin rays were hollow. The name joins two Ancient Greek words: "koilos," meaning "hollow," and "akantha," meaning "spine." Agassiz placed it in a new genus, Coelacanthus, which is Latin for the same hollow-spined creature. The fish was known only from fossils, and it seemed to have vanished with the dinosaurs. That made the living specimens that turned up later astonishing. The name stuck to the fossil, and the modern fish that was found took it as well, so a word coined for old bones now describes a creature that outlived its supposed extinction.

Synonyms: latent fish, living fossil