Hundreds of millions of years ago, when these ancient sea-dwellers originally developed; is when scientists came across the best-preserved coelacanth fossil ever discussed, according to the latest research published in Nature Communications. The fossil is from the Gogo Formation on Gooniyandi Country in Northern Western Australia. In order to understand what motivated the genesis of the new species over the eons, we also examined the evolutionary history of all the hundreds of coelacanth species that are known from the fossil record. It was surprising to learn that the ocean had no greater influence on the evolution of coelacanths.
Later, coelacanth diversity increased throughout the dinosaur era, which started about 250 million years ago. As of now, more than 175 fossil species have been discovered globally. Ultimately, coelacanths mysteriously disappeared from the fossil record 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous epoch. For an extended period, scientists believed the coelacanths were victims of the enormous asteroid strike that also declared the end of the dinosaurs, along with roughly 75 percent of all living things on Earth.
That all changed in 1938 when South African fishermen discovered a huge, mysterious fish in the deep depths that was unlike anything they had ever seen.Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, a local museum employee with an intense curiosity in the natural sciences, recognized the fish’s uniqueness right away. J.L.B. Smith, a well- known chemist from South Africa who was interested in ichthyology, or the study of fish, was of the friends Courtenay-Latimer recruited. The first live coelacanth that science has heard of is Latimeria, which Smith identified and named.
Finding this”Lazarus fish” was similar to finding a real Triceratops dinosaur which was still wandering in the jungles of North America. Even now, Coelacanths are often referred to as “living fossils”
How Earth’s Movements Shaped Coelacanth Evolution
The scientists analysed the evolutionary history of every known coelacanth as a result of our research on the new species. They calculated the rates of evolution during their 410 million-year existence while doing so.
In general, they discovered that coelacanths have developed slowly with a few remarkable exceptions.
Additionally, they examined a number of environmental factors that the researchers thought would have made an impact on the rates of Coelacanth evolution. These included air carbon dioxide levels, water oxygen content, ocean temperatures and tectonic plate activity.
Latimeria: More Than Just a “Living Fossil”
Latimeria chalumnae and Latimeria menadoensis are the two surviving species that were closely examined. In addition to their examination of every fossilised Coelacanth.
These fish and some of their relatives seem to be nearly identical at first glance. Scientists were capable to differentiate them from their extinct relatives nevertheless, upon closer examination.
Although the evolution of new features in Latimeria has virtually stopped. Some changes continue to take place to the body’s dimensions and DNA information. Thus, maybe it is not really a “living fossil”.
