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Description: | Specimen of a fossil fish, a Coelacanth, Coelacanthus granulatus, collected from the Marl SLate of Late Permian, Zechstein (Durham Province), EZ1 age.
Coelacanthus granulatus was a fish that probably used its well-developed limb-like fins for crawling along the seabed as well as swimming. It was thought that coelacanths became extinct about 100 million years ago until a fisherman caught a live one off the coast of South Africa in 1938! They are still being caught today and are known as living fossils. Modern Ceolacanths are much larger than their earlier relatives. Many fossils of Coelacanths have been found in the local Marl Slate rocks of Co. Durham, but they are still quite rare.
It is from the Permian period (290 - 248 million years ago) | Publisher: | Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums | Subjects: | Classification: Chordata Pisces Crossoptergyii Sarcopterygii Osteichthyes | Temporal: | Permian period (290 - 248 million years ago) | Source: | Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums | Identifier: | http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/geofinder/se... | Go to resource |
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