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Ancient Creature of the Deep

Coelacanth Quiz
by Lauren Aguirre


Ancient Creature homepage

1. The coelacanth was the first living fossil fish ever found.

Coelacanth external TRUE FALSE Coelacanth - bone structure


False
The Australian lungfish, very similar to lungfish found in the fossil record of 200 million years ago and thought to be extinct, was found alive and well in the 1830s living in Queensland, Australia. While just as interesting to scientists, it failed to generate the same excitement as the coelacanth, which was discovered in a more media-friendly era. (To learn about similarly slighted fish, see Other Fish in the Sea.
Lungfish


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