Fisherman Yustinus Lahama hooked this coelacanth off Sulawesi island, Indonesia. A favorite of cryptozoologists, the coelacanth was thought to have been extinct for 65 million years until one was found in 1938 off the coast of Africa. For most of the century, scientists believed that the coelacanth only lived in that region, but then in 1998 a different species of the fish was discovered near Indonesia. From National Geographic:
(This) four-foot (1.2-meter), 110-pound (50-kilogram) specimen lived for 17 hours in a quarantine pool, an “extraordinary” feat considering the cold, deep-sea habitat of the fish, marine biologist Lucky Lumingas of the local Sam Ratulangi University told the Associated Press. Lumingas plans to study the carcass.
Previously on BB:
• Coelacanth in danger Link
• Coelacanth caught on video Link
• Video: Indonesian coelacanth Link