Coelacanth

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BuffaloPolypteridae

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Just watched a docu on Nat Geo wild on this amazing fish, I've noticed something when they were looking at the pups of a dead prego female. Live birth, like sharks (I didn't know that at least) and the pups looked a LOT like wolf fish to me. As in the FW characins, erythrinus, hoplerythrinus and hoplias. Has anyone else noticed this? Are they distantly related?

(Hoping oddball knows lol)

I'll find some pics and update when I have another minute I'm working

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Oddball

Oddball

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"Distantly related" is too broad of a term to use for Ole Four Legs being related to any other fish. Coelacanths came into being in the Devonian Age some 400 million years ago. The coelacanth is thought to be an evolutionary 'couch-potato' since the living specimens of today resemble fossil specimens with little or no advancements in any adaptations normally seen in most other vertebrate evolutionary lines.
 
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krichardson

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I saw that NatGEO doc and made a thread about it...The coelecanth is a dream fish of mine but I guess the closest we could hope to get to having one would be the unrelated aimara.
 
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BuffaloPolypteridae

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Nice i just never thought of it but even their teeth, unevenly spaced and needle like, the "four legs" resemble the fins of wolves (with the exception of the rear "legs" not being so pronounced) and just wanted to see if anyone else has noticed the similarities

Just another case of convergent evolution i guess, i wish there was more info on ancient characins i bet they were beasts

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Andrink

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The coelacanth is basically a completely non linked species, all it's relatives have died out in the past extinctions. The coelacanth therefore has no link to any other species in the present day closely. But if you are talking about the '4 legs', every fish started off like that, the present day lung fish, and the ancient Eusthenopteron all had '4 legs'. The fleshy fins became the fins on fish today. But the Polypterus are fish which still have a small bit of flesh that attaches their fins, an especially big chunk for most fish nowadays. So if you were looking for the closest relative, I believe the Polypterus would be the closest. The Polypterus, like the Coelacanth, swims with its pectoral fins. Some fish stay and don't evolve and that's why they are ancient fish. A race unchanged for hundreds of millions of years. The Devonian Coelacanth is one of them.


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Derpy007

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I think it's illegal to own one due to the fact that they are endangered. If not then you would need a large tank because of their massive size and slow swimming. So many other problems like their a deep sea dwelling specimen that you would run into. I wouldn't recommend having one!
 
Oddball

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The species is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is listed in CITES Appendix I. However, local fishermen are allowed to retain coelacanths caught on traditional tackle and several institutions worldwide have rewards advertised for live specimens.
 
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krichardson

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Derpy007 said:
Oops sorry completely wrong website, silly me
Click to expand...
LOL?...I don't know about it being illegal to own or not but it lives in the ocean off the coasts of North Africa and I'm not aware of any regulating authorities in those areas...
 
rodger

rodger

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I seriously doubt anyone on MFK has the funds to get and house one anyway. Well, maybe Krich but that would be the only one.

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