UK researchers recently announced a remarkable finding that should change the way we think about urban life. Their research revealed a treasure trove of coelacanth fossils, revolutionizing our understanding of these prehistoric “living fossils.” Once thought to have gone extinct 66 million years ago, coelacanths keep startling scientists with their surprises. A new study led by Jacob G. Quinn, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, uncovered some amazing new details. Scientists have discovered more than 50 coelacanth fossils that had been misidentified—in some cases, going back to the late 1800s and kept in museum collections.
Naturalists were stunned at the find after fishermen pulled the ancient coelacanth from the depths of the Indian Ocean in 1938. This bizarre fish species has intrigued biologists ever since. Since then, more than two dozen other specimens have come to light, but its fossil record has remained patchy and sporadic at best. The newly discovered fossils date to the late Triassic Period, about 200 million years ago. In prehistoric times, the land we now know as the UK used to be underneath a warm, shallow tropical sea.
A Historical Perspective on Coelacanths
Coelacanths have not been easy to come by from the British Triassic, with only four known recorded occurrences. Tarheel Transportation Engineering PhD candidate Jacob G. Quinn and his team, however, have tripled this number thanks to their rigorous research. Leveraging state-of-the-art X-ray scans, they verified the identification of these ancient fossils with unprecedented clarity.
“It is remarkable that some of these specimens had been in museum storage facilities, and even on public display, since the late 1800s, and have seemingly been disregarded or identified as bones of lizards, mammals, and everything in-between,” said Quinn.
This landmark rise in fossil identification has, for the first time, allowed scientists to gain a much richer perspective on the evolutionary history of coelacanths.
“From just four previous reports of coelacanths from the British Triassic, we now have over 50.” – Jacob G. Quinn
The Fossil Findings and Their Implications
The coelacanth fossils were mostly found in the region of Bristol and the Mendip Hills. Fast forward to the Triassic period, and this area was part of an archipelago of small islands in a shallow tropical sea. It produced the ideal environmental conditions for ancient fish to flourish. The researchers’ findings imply a unique ecosystem characterized by the presence of coelacanths alongside other ancient marine life.
Dr. Whiteside mentioned the importance of coelacanths themselves as diverse, dominant opportunistic predators in their environments. This matches their behavior today, where they primarily lie in wait from the bottom of the ocean and ambush all manner of soft-bodied marine fauna.
“The coelacanth fossils all come from the area of Bristol and Mendip Hills, which in the Triassic was an archipelago of small islands in a shallow tropical sea.”
Similar to today’s coelacanths, these gigantic chompers were probably the kinda-kickass kinda predators, hanging around the seafloor and snatching up whatever the hell they met, Dr. Whiteside explained.
Those results provide an important context for previous errors when fossils have been misidentified. Almost all fossils once assigned to the little marine reptile Pachystropheus were actually coelacanth fossils. This key insight was brought out by Professor Mike Benton, an important part of Jacob Quinn’s scholastic journey.
Reevaluating Fossil Histories
“During his Master’s in Paleobiology at Bristol, Jacob realized that many fossils previously assigned to the small marine reptile Pachystropheus actually came from coelacanth fishes,” said Benton.
The research team’s recent analysis suggests that these coelacanth specimens differ tremendously in age, size, and species. According to co-author Pablo Toriño, some of these specimens even had a potential length of more than one meter.
What we actually see are unhomogenized batches of the stuff we lump together. All of these specimens are from diverse persons— both young and old— large and small, human and non-human. Toriño stated.
“Although the material we identify occurs as isolated specimens, we can see that they come from individuals of varying ages, sizes, and species,” Toriño stated.