Coelacanths belong to the subclass Actinistia, a group of lobed-finned fish that are related to lungfish and other extinct Devonian fish like osteolepiforms, porolepiforms,rhizodonts, and Panderichthys. Coelacanths were thought to have gone extinct in the Late Cretaceous, but were rediscovered in 1938 off the coast of South Africa. Latimeria chalumnae and the Latimeria menadoensis are the only two living coelacanth species and are found along the coastlines of the Indian Ocean. The coelacanth has been nicknamed a “living fossil”, because its fossils were found long before the actual discovery of a live specimen. The coelacanth is thought to have first evolved approximately 400 million years ago.
