In 1938, a South African fisherman hauled up a fish that scientists believed had been extinct for 65 million years — the coelacanth, a deep-water species that had simply been living unseen in waters no one routinely dredged

In 1938, a South African fisherman hauled up a fish that scientists believed had been extinct for 65 million years — the coelacanth, a deep-water species that had simply been living unseen in waters no one routinely dredged

body.single-post h1.entry-title,body.single-post .entry-title{text-transform:none!important;} The coelacanth story is often told as if a fossil came back to life. The more interesting version is quieter: the fish had never left. It had simply been living where science was not looking. In December 1938, a trawler working off South Africa brought an unfamiliar blue fish into East London. The fish had been caught by the crew of the Nerine, under Ca…