When and Where The Coelacanth Has Been Found
When and Where it Has Been Found

Madagascar and Africa



    The Coelacanth was first found off the coast of Madagascar in the Comoros Islands on December 23rd, 1938 by Marjorie-Courtney Latimer. The Coelacanth has also been found in several locations in Indonesia, as of 1998, in Sulawesi (Fox, 1998). These are the only locations that live Coelacanths have been found. The Indonesian Coelacanths are brown in colour, while the Madagascar Coelacanths are the steel blue colour (McGrouther, 1998). There have been many fossilized Coelacanths found around the world, especially in Canada (Coad, 1998). Two species have been named, one in British Columbia and one in Alberta (Coad, 1998). The British Columbia species was named Coelacanthus whitea and the Alberta species was named Coelacanthus banffensis (Coad, 1998). The first Coelacanth, was named Latimeria chalumnae after Latimer the discoverer, and the Chalumna River, where it was first found (Hamlin, 1999).